• Title/Summary/Keyword: Food safety

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Laboratory Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19) in Korea: Current Status, Limitation, and Challenges (국내 중증 급성 호흡기 증후군 코로나 바이러스의 검사실 내 진단: 현재, 한계점 그리고 직면한 과제)

  • Song, Gi Seon;Lee, You-Rim;Kim, Sungmin;Kim, Wontae;Choi, Jungwon;Yoo, Dahyeon;Yoo, Jungyoung;Jang, Kyung-Tae;Lee, Jaewang;Jun, Jin Hyun
    • Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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    • v.52 no.3
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    • pp.284-295
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    • 2020
  • In December 2019, the first coronavirus disease- 2019 (COVID-19) patient was reported in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Since then, the number of patients who suffered severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by the novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2 or 2019-nCoV) has increased dramatically in Korea. This new variant virus induces pulmonary diseases, including cough, sore throat, rhinorrhea, dyspnea, and pneumonia. Because SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, real-time reverse-transcriptase PCR has been used widely to diagnose COVID-19. As the Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (KCDC) and Ministry of Food & Drug Safety (MFDS) approved emergency use authorization, clinical specimens collected from COVID-19 patients and even healthy people have been clinically diagnosed by laboratory medicine. Based on a literature search, this paper reviews the epidemiology, symptoms, molecular diagnostics approved by KCDC, a current diagnosis of COVID-19 in the laboratories, the difference between molecular and serological diagnosis, and guidelines for clinical specimens. In addition, the Korean guidelines of biosafety for clinical laboratory scientists are evaluated to prevent healthcare-associated infection. The author's experience and lessons as clinical laboratory scientists will provide valuable insights to protect the domestic and international health community in this COVID-19 pandemic around the world.

Residual Pattern of Pesticide, Chlorfluazuron in Perilla Leaves Under Plastic House (들깻잎 재배 중 chlorfluazuron의 잔류량 변화 및 잔류분석법 시험)

  • Lee, Min-Ho;Kim, Seok-Ho;Park, Young-Guin;Jo, Gyeong-Yeon;Shin, Byung-Gon;Kim, Jong-Han;Kwon, Chan-Hyeok;Sohn, Jae-Keun;Kim, Jang-Eok
    • The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.106-116
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    • 2007
  • Pesticide, chlorfluazuron was subjected to determine the safety of terminal residues at the harvesting date of perilla leaves cultivated in plastic house. After the pesticide applied on a foliar spray in 2005 and 2006, leaf persistence of its residue was analysed for 10 days before leaf harvest. The degradation rate of chlorfluazuron in the leaf was 32.3 %(standard application), 43.6 %(double application) and 78.0 %(standard), 80.4 %(double) at second and tenth day, respectively, under analysis of GC/ECD in 2005. The degradation rate of chlorfluazuron in the leaf was 33.1 %(GC/ECD analyze), 34.0 %(HPLC/UVD analyze) and 77.9 %(GC/ECD), 78.4 %(HPLC/UVD) at second and tenth day, respectively, under the standard level of pesticide in 2006. The biological half-life of the chlorfluazuron residue was estimated by the regression equation calculated from daily dissipation of pesticide in the perilla leaves. The longest half-life of the chlorfluazuron residue in perilla leaves was 5.5 days. The maximum residual limit(MRL) for chlorfluazuron based on the longest half-life was estimated 2.0ppm at harvesting day, 2.5ppm at second day and 7.1ppm at tenth day before leaf harvesting of perilla.

Current Status and Perspective and Future Task in Korea of Crop Genetic Transformation (작물형질전환의 현황과 한국내의 발전전망 및 과제)

  • Harn, Chee-Hark
    • Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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    • v.33 no.3
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    • pp.171-184
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    • 2006
  • According to ISAAA report, the global area of genetically modified (GM) crops increased more than 50 fold during the ten-year period from 1996 to 2005 with a sustained double-digit growth rate of 10%. This biotechnology adoption is one of the highest rates of technology adoption in agriculture history and this phenomenon indicates that the industrial value of the GM crops is highly perspective. In addition, the year 2010, 60% of cereal seeds in the global market would be GM or biotechnology related seeds so that the GM crop regards as the second green revolution that could provide a huge impact to food and agriculture. Nevertheless, there has not been any GM variety ever successfully commercialized in Korea and even none of the GM crops has ever been approved for safety testing by risk assessment. This seems that Korean agriculture industry might be indeed lost in the war of future seed market. However, lots of evidence show that Korean scientists have established advanced technologies and protocols to develop GM crops for last 20 years. Actually there have been many cases of successful transformation of crops that were previously known very difficult in transforming. Therefore, Korean agbiotechnology arena firmly holds an infrastructure for developing GM crops with a superior technology. Then what were the problems? Why has even a single GM crop not been commercialized in Korea? The tardiness shown by business in adopting the GM crop is caused by many factors: academical weakness, poor research funding, short knowledge of risk assessment, public concern, no successful experience, lack of professional leaders on GM variety development, lack of systems toward industrialization and inappropriate target transgenes from the beginning. In order to catch up in the race for the new green industry, each one of us in private sectors alongside academia and national research institutes needs to focus altogether on what can be done best in terms of choosing crops, investing fund and establishing a road map for commercialization of GM crops.

The Evaluation and Development of Head and Neck Radiation Protective Device for Chest Radiography in 10 Years Children (소아(10세) 흉부 방사선촬영에서의 두경부 방사선 방어기구 개발 및 평가)

  • Lee, Jun Ho;Lim, Hyun Soo;Lee, Seung Yeol
    • Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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    • v.40 no.2
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    • pp.118-123
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    • 2015
  • The frequency of diagnostic radiation examinations in medical institutions has recently increased to 220 million cases in 2011, and the annual exposure dose per capita was 1.4 mSv, 51% and 35% respectively, compared to those in 2007. The number of chest radiography was found to be 27.59% of them, the highest frequency of normal radiography. In this study, we developed a shielding device to minimize radiation exposure by shielding areas of the body which are unnecessary for image interpretation, during the chest radiography. And in order to verify its usefulness, we also measured the difference in entrance surface dose (ESD) and the absorbed dose, before and after using the device, by using an international standard pediatric (10 years) phantom and a glass dosimeter. In addition, we calculated the effective dose by using a Monte Carlo simulation-based program (PCXMC 2.0.1) and evaluated the reduction ratio indirectly by comparing lifetime attributable risk of cancer incidence (LAR). When using the protective device, the ESD decreased by 86.36% on average, nasal cavity $0.55{\mu}Sv$ (74.06%), thyroid $1.43{\mu}Sv$ (95.15%), oesophagus $6.35{\mu}Sv$ (78.42%) respectively, and the depth dose decreased by 72.30% on average, the cervical spine(upper spine) $1.23{\mu}Sv$ (89.73%), salivary gland $0.5{\mu}Sv$ (92.31%), oesophagus $3.85{\mu}Sv$ (59.39%), thyroid $2.02{\mu}Sv$ (73.53%), thoracic vertebrae(middle spine) $5.68{\mu}Sv$ (54.01%) respectively, so that we could verify the usefulness of the shielding mechanism. In addition, the effective dose decreased by 11.76% from $8.33{\mu}Sv$ to $7.35{\mu}Sv$ before and after wearing the device, and in LAR assessment, we found that thyroid cancer decreased to male 0.14 people (95.12%) and female 0.77 people (95.16%) per one million 10-year old children, and general cancers decreased to male 0.14 people (11.70%) and female 0.25 people (11.70%). Although diagnostic radiation examinations are necessary for healthcare such as the treatment of diseases, based on the ALARA concept, we should strive to optimize medical radiation by using this shielding device actively in the areas of the body unnecessary for the diagnosis.

A Study on Heavy Metal Concentrations of Oxidized Hair Coloring Products in Korea Market (한국에서 유통 중인 산화형 염모제의 중금속 농도에 관한 연구)

  • Choi, Chae Man;Hong, Mi Sun;Lee, Yun Jung;Kim, Hwa Soon;Kim, Hyun Jung;Kim, Jung Hun;Chae, Young Zoo
    • Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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    • v.39 no.3
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    • pp.241-249
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    • 2013
  • This study was aimed to provide the fundamental data about oxidized hair color products. For this reason, we collected 125 oxidized hair color products, which were distributed in domestic market from January to October, 2012, and measured the heavy metal concentrations of lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, manganese, nickel, copper in the samples. Results were compared by domestic, foreign, henna, type and color. The average metal concentrations were as follows; 0.211 ${\mu}g/g$ for lead, 0.008 ${\mu}g/g$ for cadmium, 0.051 ${\mu}g/g$ for arsenic, 0.954 ${\mu}g/g$ for chromium, 6.250 ${\mu}g/g$ for manganese, 0.591 ${\mu}g/g$ for nickel and 0.544 ${\mu}g/g$ for copper. In case of lead and arsenic, the concentrations were much less than the regulated amount (20 ${\mu}g/g$ and 10 ${\mu}g/g$, respectively) suggested by MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety). In henna (p < 0.05), the concentrations were significantly higher than those of other domestic and foreign oxidized hair color products as follows; 1.264 ${\mu}g/g$ for lead, 0.267 ${\mu}g/g$ for arsenic, 0.025 ${\mu}g/g$ for cadmium, 4.055 ${\mu}g/g$ for chromium, 72.044 ${\mu}g/g$ for manganese, 3.076 ${\mu}g/g$ for nickel and 4.640 ${\mu}g/g$ for copper. Statistically, it showed that the heavy metal concentrations were quite different for the different types of hair color products. The cream and liquid type products had the highest average concentration in chromium (0.708 ${\mu}g/g$, 0.478 ${\mu}g/g$, respectively). On the other hand, powder type products showed the highest concentration in manganese (60.041 ${\mu}g/g$). In addition, the concentrations of heavy metals and the color of products are not quite correlated. It was shown that average concentrations of lead and chromium were higher for yellow, chromium for red and pink, manganese for brown and black, and nickel for green.

NEW ANTIDEPRESSANTS IN CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY (소아청소년정신과영역의 새로운 항우울제)

  • Lee, Soo-Jung
    • Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.12-25
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    • 2003
  • Objectives:As increasing number of new antidepressants have been being introduced in clinical practice, pharmacological understanding has been broadened. These changes mandate new information and theories to be incorporated into the treatment process of children with depressive disorders. In light of newly coming knowledge, this review intended to recapitulate the characteristics of new antidepressants and to consider the pivotal issues to develope guidelines for the treatment of depression in childhood and adolescence. Methods:Searching the Pub-Med online database for the articles with the key words of 'new', 'antidepressants' and 'children' ninety-seven headings of review articles were obtained. The author selected the articles of pertinent subjects in terms of either treatment guideline or psychopharmacology of new antidepressants. When required, articles about the clinical effectiveness of individual antidepressants were separatedly searched. In addition, the safety information of new antidepressants was acquired by browsing the official sites of the United States Food and Drugs Administration and Department of Health and Human Services. Results:1) For the clinical course, treatment phase, and treatment outcome, the reviews or treatment guidelines adopted the information from adult treatment guidelines. 2) Systematic and critical reviews unambiguously concluded that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors(SSRIs) excelled tricyclic antidepressants( TCAs) for both efficacy and side effect profiles, and were recommend for the first-line choice for the treatment of children with depressive disorders. 3) New antidepressants generally lacked treatment experiences and randomized controlled clinical trials. 4) SSRIs and other new antidepressants, when used together, might result in pharmacokinetic and/or pharmacodynamic drug-to-drug interaction. 5) The difference of the clinical effectiveness of antidepressants between children and adults should be addressed from developmental aspects, which required further evidence. Conclusion:Treatment guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of childhood and adolescence depression could be constructed on the basis of clinical trial findings and practical experiences. Treatment guidelines are to best serve as the frame of reference for a clinician to make reasonable decisions for a particular therapeutic situation. In order to fulfill this role, guidelines should be updated as soon as new research data become available.

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Generation of Transgenic Rice without Antibiotic Selection Marker through Agrobacterium-mediated Co-transformation System (아그로박테리움 동시 형질전환 시스템을 통한 항생제 선발 마커가 없는 형질전환벼의 생산)

  • Park, Soo-Kwon;Kwon, Tack-Min;Lee, Jong-Hee;Shin, Dong-Jin;Hwang, Woon-Ha;Song, You-Chun;Cho, Jun-Hyun;Nam, Min-Hee;Jeon, Seung-Ho;Lee, Sang-Yeol;Park, Dong-Soo
    • Journal of Life Science
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    • v.22 no.9
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    • pp.1152-1158
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    • 2012
  • Development of transgenic plant increasing crop yield or disease resistance is good way to solve the world food shortage. However, the persistence of marker genes in crops leads to serious public concerns about the safety of transgenic crops. In the present paper, we developed marker-free transgenic rice inserted high molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) gene ($D{\times}5$) from the Korean wheat cultivar 'Jokyeong' using Agrobacterium-mediated co-transformation method. Two expression cassettes comprised of separate DNA fragments containing only the $D{\times}5$ and hygromycin resistance (HPTII) genes were introduced separately into Agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105 strain for co-infection. Each EHA105 strain harboring $D{\times}5$ or HPTII was infected into rice calli at a 3: 1 ratio of EHA105 with $D{\times}5$ gene and EHA105 with HPTII gene expressing cassette. Then, among 66 hygromycin-resistant transformants, we obtained two transgenic lines inserted with both the $D{\times}5$ and HPTII genes into the rice genome. We reconfirmed integration of the $D{\times}5$ and HPTII genes into the rice genome by Southern blot analysis. Wheat $D{\times}5$ transcripts in $T_1$ rice seeds were examined with semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Finally, the marker-free plants containing only the $D{\times}5$ gene were successfully screened at the $T_1$ generation. These results show that a co-infection system with two expression cassettes could be an efficient strategy to generate marker-free transgenic rice plants.

Clinical Usefulness of a Totally Laparoscopic Gastrectomy (전(全)복강경하 위절제술의 임상적 유용성)

  • Kim, Jin-Jo;Kim, Sung-Keun;Jun, Kyong-Hwa;Kang, Han-Chul;Song, Kyo-Young;Chin, Hyung-Min;Kim, Wook;Jeon, Hae-Myung;Park, Cho-Hyun;Park, Seung-Man;Lim, Keun-Woo;Park, Woo-Bae;Kim, Seung-Nam
    • Journal of Gastric Cancer
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    • v.7 no.3
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    • pp.132-138
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    • 2007
  • Purpose: In Korea, the number of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomies for early gastric cancer patients has been on the increase. Although minimally invasive surgery is more beneficial, no reported case of a total laparoscopic gastrectomy has been reported because of difficulty with intracorporeal anastomosis. This study attempts, through our experience, to determine the safety and feasibility of a total laparoscopic gastrectomy with various types of intracorporeal anastomosis using laparoscopic linears stapler in treating early gastric carcinomas. Materials and Methods: We investigated the surgical results and clinicopatholgical characteristics of 81 patients that underwent a totally laparoscopic distal gastrectomy at our department between June 2004 and May 2007. The intracorporeal anastomoses were performed by using laparoscopic linear staplers. Results: The mean operative time was 287 minutes, the mean anastomotic time was 40 minutes, and the mean number of laparoscopic linear staplers used for an operation was 7.5. The mean time to the first flatus, the first food intake, and discharge from hospital was 2.9, 3.6, and 10.3 days respectively. There were 11 cases of postoperative complications, but no case of postoperative mortality or conversion to an open procedure. In 75 patients with an adenocarcinoma, the mean number of lymph nodes harvested was 38.1 and the stage distribution was as follows: stage I, 72 patients; stage II, 2 patients; stage IV, 1 patient. During the mean follow-up period of 14 months, 5 patients died of other causes and there were no cases of cancer recurrence. Conclusion: A total laparoscopic gastrectomy with intracorporeal anastomosis by using a laparoscopic linear stapler was found to be safe and feasible. We were able to obtain acceptable surgical outcomes in terms of minimal invasiveness.

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A Study on the Cosmeceutical activities of Prunus Sargentii R. (산벚나무(Prunus sargentii R.) 수피의 화장품활성에 관한 연구)

  • Park, Jung-Mi;Lee, Jin-Young;Park, Tae-Soon;Hyun, Sok-Jun;Kim, Han-Hyuk;Cho, Young-Je;Kwon, O-Jun;Son, Ae-Ryang;Kim, Dong-Seok;An, Bong-Jeun
    • Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.51 no.1
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    • pp.70-78
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    • 2008
  • Prunus sargentii R. of Rosaceae familiy, has been reported to have radical scavenging activity and anti-inflammatory effect. On these facts, biological activity and safety test were conducted to evaluate biological activities of the extracts of P. sargentii R. as a potential pharmaceutical ingredient. The electron donating ability of its ethanol extracts at a 500 ppm level showed 92%, which was higher than that of hot water extract (59%), the superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity of the water extract of P. sargentii R. was about 50%, the ethanol extract of P. sargentii R. was about 40% at 1,000 ppm concentration. Xanthine oxidase inhibition by the water extract of P. sargentii R. was about 40% and that by the ethanol extract was 60% respectively at 500 ppm concentration. From the measurement on lipid oxidation, the $Cu^{2+}$ chelating effect of the ethanol extract was higher than that of hot water extract. The $Fe^{2+}$ chelating effect was also shown to be about 80% at a 500 ppm concentration in both hot water extract and ethanol extract. The tyrosinase inhibition effect related to skin-whitening was 26% by hot water extract and 20% by ethanol extract respectively at a 1,000 ppm. Hyaluronidase inhibition activity related to the anti-inflammation effect was 96% in ethanolic extract at a 500 ppm. Clear zones formed by P. sargentii R. against the human skin-resident micro-flora such as Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli and Propionibacterium acnes indicated that antimicrobial activity of the ethanol extract was higher than that of the hot water extract.

Entrance Skin Dose According to Age and Body Size for Pediatric Chest Radiography (소아 흉부촬영 시 나이와 체격에 따른 입사피부선량)

  • Shin, Gwi-Soon;Min, Ki-Yeul;Kim, Doo-Han;Lee, Kwang-Jae;Park, Ji-Hwan;Lee, Gui-Won
    • Journal of radiological science and technology
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    • v.33 no.4
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    • pp.327-334
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    • 2010
  • Exposure during childhood results in higher risk for certain detrimental cancers than exposure during adulthood. We measured entrance skin dose (ESD) under 7-year children undergoing chest imaging and compared the relationship between ESD and age, height, weight, chest thickness. Though it is important to measure chest thickness for setting up the exposure condition of chest examination, it is difficult to measure chest thickness of children. We set up exposure parameters according to age because chest thickness of children has correlation with age. In the exposure parameters, for chest A-P examination under 2 year-children, tube voltage (kVp) in hospital A was higher than that in hospital B while tube current (mAs) was higher in hospital B, thus the ESD values were about 1.7 times higher in hospital B. However, for chest P-A examination over 4 year-children, the tube voltage was 7 kVp higher in hospital B, the tube current were same in all two systems, and focus to image receptor distance (FID) in hospital B (180 cm) was longer than that in hospital A (130 cm), thus the ESD values were 1.4 times higher in hospital A. For same ages, the ESD values for chest A-P examinations were higher than those for chest P-A examinations. Comparing ESD according to age, ESD values were $154{\mu}Gy$, $194{\mu}Gy$ and $138{\mu}Gy$ for children under 1 year, 1 to under 4 years and 4 to under 7 years of age, respectively. These values were lower than reference level ($200{\mu}Gy$) recommended in JART (japan association of radiological technologists), however these were higher than reference values recommended by EC (european commission), NRPB (national radiological protection board) and NIFDS (national institute of food & drug safety evaluation). In conclusion, the values of ESD were affected by exposure parameters from radiographer's past experience more than x-ray system. ESD values for older children were not always higher than those for younger children. Therefore we need to establish our own DRLs (diagnostic reference levels) according to age of the children in order to optimize pediatric patient protection.