• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.440-448
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• 2021

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) establishes long-term infections associated with severe gastric diseases such as peptic ulceration and gastric cancer. Exposure to an antibacterial agent can help regulate the expression levels of its pathogenic genes. In this study, we analyzed the transcriptional changes in H. pylori genes induced by β-caryophyllene. We used next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze RNA expression changes, and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed as required to verify the results. The NGS results showed that 30 out of 1,632 genes were expressed differentially by β-caryophyllene treatment. Eleven genes associated with DNA replication, virulence factors, and T4SS components were significantly downregulated. RT-PCR confirmed that treatment reduced the expression levels of 11 genes. RT-PCR showed the reduced expression of 11 genes (dnaE, dnaN, holB, gyrA, cagA, vacA, secA, flgE, virB2, virB4, and virB8) following β-caryophyllene treatment. These results suggest that β-caryophyllene can modulate various H. pylori pathogenic determinants and be a potential therapeutic agent for H. pylori infection.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2021

Background: This study aims to report how the practice of plastic surgeons and their attitude was during the first measure period of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methods: A survey study was held among members of the Indonesian Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons during week 5 after the first report of COVID-19. A 10 multiple-choice questions (MCQs) and 1 essay covered key questions on the area of surgery and operating room, clinics, internal meeting, and consultation. The only open-ended question relates to the last MCQ addresses a future "flipped" medical practice. Results: Response rate was 45.6% among 228 members, with 89.4% did no practice or limited their service to emergency and urgent cases only. Only 1.9% kept their official meeting as usual, while the majority modified it. The practice in the operating theatre and clinic were also altered to comply with the measures; with 21.2% from the total respondents only allowed patients with exposure to come for visit after taking 14 days of self-quarantine. Teleconsultation was practiced by 50% of the respondents, while 41.3% agreed and 10.6% disagreed upon the future "flipped" medical practice. Conclusion: In general plastic surgeons have made supportive actions during the pandemic. Surgery was performed with all precautions at the utmost as a reflection of high alert of viral infection. Teleconsultation has been embraced via existing social media. Agreement upon the future "flipped" medical practice is reasonable. All in all, the actions were considered as most relevant.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2022

Medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ) is a serious side effect of antiresorptive agents and bone-modifying agents. It is of the utmost importance to know the management of the MRONJ to improve the patient's quality of life. This study comprehensively reviews the current definitions of MRONJs, and antiresorptive medications, clinical manifestation and staging, risk factors, treatment strategies, and prevention methods of MRONJ. The disease is defined as an exposure of bone and osteonecrosis of the jaw in the oral cavity for at least 8 weeks in patients taking antiresorptive drugs or antiangiogenic agents and with no history of radiotherapy treatment of the jaws. Many articles have reported risk factors associated with MRONJ such as systemic diseases, antiresorptive medication, oral infection, and poor oral hygiene. Osteonecrosis and antiresorptive medications including bisphosphonate and denosumab have been strongly associated, but the pathology of MRONJ is only limited. Hence, an effective and appropriate management and treatment for MRONJ is still to be defined. The objectives of MRONJ treatment are to minimize osteonecrosis and relieve symptoms, and many treatments are suggested from conservative treatment to marginal resection, but this remains controversial. Appropriate treatment of MRONJ remained difficult, although many studies are being covered.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.3-13
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• 2020

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous gram-negative bacterium causing serious infections. The P. aeruginosa T3SS is a syringe-like apparatus on the bacterial surface, with 4 effector toxins: ExoS, ExoT, ExoY, and ExoU. Here, we investigated the effect of ExoS and ExoT of the T3SS of P. aeruginosa K strain (PAK). The type three secretion system (T3SS) is a major virulence system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa). The effector protein Exotoxin S (ExoS) produced by P. aeruginosa is secreted into the host cells via the T3SS. For the purpose of screening the inhibitors with regard to ExoS secretion, we developed the sandwich-type enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. PAK clinical strains induce proinflammatory cytokine production through the T3SS, and this involves NF-κB activation in pneumonia mouse models. We tried to confirm the role of the NF-κB transcription factor in ExoS- and ExoT-induced pneumonia mouse models. pro-inflammatory cytokines induction in response to ExoS and ExoT infection relied on NF-κB activation. Our findings highlight the roles of natural poduct in inhibiting proinflammatory cytokine expression during ExoS and ExoT exposure in PAK infections, paving the way for a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of pulmonary infections.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.142-148
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• 2023

In Modern days, Self-driving for modern people is an absolute necessity for transportation and many other reasons. Additionally, after the outbreak of COVID-19, driving by oneself is preferred over other means of transportation for the prevention of infection. However, due to the constant exposure to stressful situations and chronic fatigue one experiences from the work or the traffic to and from it, modern drivers often drive under drowsiness which can lead to serious accidents and fatality. To address this problem, we propose a drowsy driving prevention learning model which detects a driver's state of drowsiness. Furthermore, a method to sound a warning message after drowsiness detection is also presented. This is to use MoveNet to quickly and accurately extract the keypoints of the body of the driver and Dense Neural Network(DNN) to train on real-time driving behaviors, which then immediately warns if an abnormal drowsy posture is detected. With this method, we expect reduction in traffic accident and enhancement in overall traffic safety.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.19.1-19.18
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• 2021

Clinical and molecular phenotypes of asthma are complex. The main phenotypes of adult asthma are characterized by eosinophil and/or neutrophil cell dominant airway inflammation that represent distinct clinical features. Upper and lower airways constitute a unique system and their interaction shows functional complementarity. Although human upper airway contains various indigenous commensals and opportunistic pathogenic microbiome, imbalance of this interactions lead to pathogen overgrowth and increased inflammation and airway remodeling. Competition for epithelial cell attachment, different susceptibilities to host defense molecules and antimicrobial peptides, and the production of proinflammatory cytokine and pattern recognition receptors possibly determine the pattern of this inflammation. Exposure to environmental factors, including infection, air pollution, smoking is commonly associated with asthma comorbidity, severity, exacerbation and resistance to anti-microbial and steroid treatment, and these effects may also be modulated by host and microbial genetics. Administration of probiotic, antibiotic and corticosteroid treatment for asthma may modify the composition of resident microbiota and clinical features. This review summarizes the effect of some environmental factors on the upper respiratory microbiome, the interaction between host-microbiome, and potential impact of asthma treatment on the composition of the upper airway microbiome.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.55-62
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• 2015

Purpose: Varicella Zoster Immune Globulin (VZIG) is available in Korea for post-exposure prophylaxis of the Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) in high-risk patients. In July 2013, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US CDC) recommended extending the time for administration of VariZIG$^{(R)}$ from within 96 hours up to 10 days after VZV exposure. This study was performed to analyze the effectiveness of VZIG prophylaxis between the two groups of patients who received VZIG within 96 hours and more than 96 hours of exposure to varicella. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed in pediatric patients who received VZIG at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea from January 2001 to December 2012. Results: A total of 91 patients were identified. Fifty-seven patients were male (62.6%) and the median age was 5.91 years. Thirty-nine patients (42.9%) were exposed to VZV in the hospital. Underlying diseases were solid tumors (41.8%), hematologic malignancies (40.7%), and others (17.5%). Forty-five patients (49.5%) were hematopoietic cell transplant recipients. Seventy-four patients (81.3%) received VZIG within 96 hours after VZV exposure. There was no significant difference in the development of chickenpox between the two groups (2.7% vs. 5.9%, P=0.4664). In 22 seronegative patients, we also observed no significant difference between the groups in terms of the development of chickenpox (6.6% vs. 0%, P=0.667). Conclusions: This study showed that the effectiveness of VZIG for the prevention of chickenpox was comparable between patients who received VZIG within 96 hours and those who received VZIG more than 96 hours after exposure to VZV.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.421-427
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• 2016

We aim to offer basic materials about infection management through conducting bacterial contamination test about general radiography equipment and CT equipment installed in ER of three general hospitals with 100 sickbeds or more located in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province, and suggest management plan. It had been conducted from 1st December 2015 to 31st December, and objects were general radiography equipment and CT equipment of emergency room located in Gyeongsangbuk-do Province. For general radiography equipment, sources were collected from 4 places such as upper side of control box which employees use most, upper side of exposure button, whole upper side of table which is touching part of patient's skin, upper side of stand bucky's grid, and where patients put their jaws on. For CT equipment, sources were collected from 3 places such as upper side of control box which radiography room employees use most, X-ray exposure button, whole upper side of table which is touching part of patient's skin, and gantry inner. Surface contamination strain found at general radiography equipment in emergency room of radiology are Providencia stuartii(25%), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia(18%), Enterobacter cloacae(8%), Pseudomonas species(8%), Staphylococcus epidermidis(8%), Gram negative bacilli(8%), and ungrown bacteria at incubator after 48 hours of incubation (67%) which is the biggest. Most bacteria were found at upper side of stand bucky-grid and stand bucky of radiology's general radiography equipment, and most sources of CT equipment were focused at patient table, which means it is contaminated by patients who have various diseases, and patients who have strains with decreased immunity may get severe diseases. Thus infection prevention should be made through 70% alcohol disinfection at both before test and after test.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.158-168
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• 2023

Natural products have been used to mitigate the effects of cancer and infectious diseases, as they feature diverse bioactivities, such as antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects. Here, we chose 10 natural products that are well-known as pulmonary enhancers and investigated their bactericidal effects on Streptococcus pneumoniae. In the disk diffusion assay, the growth of S. pneumoniae was significantly regulated by G. fructus treatment regardless of extraction method used. We first adopted spraying as a novel delivery method for G. fructus. Interestingly, mice exposed to G. fructus three times a day for 2 weeks were resistant to S. pneumoniae intranasal infection (shown both through body weight loss and survival rates compared to the control group). Moreover, we confirmed that exposure to G. fructus regulated the colonization of the bacteria despite the sustained inflammation in the lung after exposure to S. pneumoniae, indicating that migrated inflammatory immune cells may involve a host defense mechanism against pulmonary infectious diseases. While a similar number of granulocytes (CD11b⁺Ly6C⁺Ly6G⁺), neutrophils (CD11b⁺Ly6C^intLy6G⁺), and monocytes (CD11b⁺Ly6C^intLy6G^-) were found between groups, a significantly increased number of alveolar macrophages (CD11b⁺CD11c^hiF4/80⁺) was detected in BAL fluids of mice pre-exposed to G. fructus at 5 days after S. pneumonia infection. Taken together, our data suggest that this usage of G. fructus can induce protective immunity against bacterial infection, indicating that facial spray may be helpful in enhancing the defense mechanism against pulmonary inflammation and in evaluating the efficacy of natural products as immune enhancers against respiratory diseases.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2007

This study is aimed at providing basic data for measures to prevent dental hygienists who are highly exposed to hepatitis-B virus due to their characteristic working conditions from being infected of it. In order to determine their perception and the extent of their exposure to the risk of infection with hepatitis-B virus, a survey was conducted with questionnaires distributed to 354 dental hygienists who are working at dental offices in Seoul. Gyeongi and Jeolla provincial areas. From the survey, following conclusions could be drawn: 1. Sixty three point seven to 100 percent of them are found to have been vaccinated against hepatitis-B virus as is generally expected from their working environment. 2. Their general characters are found to be statistically significant in terms of vaccinating point of time among those who have been vaccinated. Most respondents are either vaccinated one year or 5 years ago. The completion of 3 requested vaccinations lies in the level of 64.3%~100% depending on the general characters. By age, the best result comes from the age group of 25~29, followed by the groups older than 30 and 20-24 in order (p < 0.05). Formation of antibody belongs to the level of 45%~100% generally. But statistically significant of them is the extremely unhealthy state with 100%, followed by normal, generally healthy, very healthy and not healthy in sequence (p < 0.05). 3. In terms of family's clinical history, it is known that the older (p < 0.01), the more unhealthy (p < 0.01) and the married (p < 0.01), the more possibility of having anamnesis of hepatitis-B virus infection. 4. The level of knowledge about Hepatitis-B virus is shown to be in the extent of 4.39~5.01 out of maximum 8 points in general terms. 5. It is revealed that there are high chances for dental hygienists to get spattered with body matters of patients like blood or sputum on their faces in general characters (87.%~100%). 6. A high rate (75%~100%) of respondents has experienced being shot by needles. The older(p < 0.05) and the longer(p < 0.05) their career, the higher the rate becomes.