• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
• /
• v.42 no.3
• /
• pp.269-276
• /
• 2010

Total mercury and methylmercury concentrations were determined in 15 commonly consumed aquatic food species using total mercury analyzer and gas chromatography with electron capture detector. The mean total mercury and methylmercury concentrations (mg/kg) were 0.088 and 0.034 in mackerel, 0.061 and 0.016 in hair tail, 0.030 and 0.005 in yellow croaker, 0.032 and 0.008 in Alaska pollock, 0.059 and 0.023 in eastern catfish, 0.110 and 0.045 in snakehead, 0.030 and 0.011 in Japanese common squid, 0.026 and 0.009 in common octopus, 0.035 and 0.008 in swimming crab, 0.009 and not detected (ND) in oyster, 0.011 and ND in shortneck clam, 0.008 and ND in mussel, 0.018 and ND in sea mustard, 0.007 and ND in nori, and 0.019 and ND in sea tangle, respectively. The total weekly dietary intakes of total mercury and methylmercury were estimated, respectively, using food consumption data from diet surveys and the concentrations of total mercury and methylmercury from this study. They were $0.178\;{\mu}g/kg$ body weight (b.w.)/week (3.57% of provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI)) and $0.052\;{\mu}g/kg$ b.w./week (3.34% of PTWI) respectively, and all were within their respective PTWI set by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Therefore, considering that the main contributor to mercury intake in the diet is aquatic foods and that the 15 aquatic food species examined in this study are highly consumed, it is concluded that the mercury levels in the foods measured in this study do not present a concern for consumer health.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.20 no.12
• /
• pp.1812-1819
• /
• 2010

Skipping breakfast is a risk factor closely related to metabolic syndrome and obesity. We analyzed the relationship between breakfast size, metabolic syndrome and obesity. The study included 5,548 adults who visited a health promotion center at Pusan National University from January to November of 2006. Subjects were divided into four groups according to breakfast size - skipper group (no breakfast), small intake group, medium intake group and large intake group. 959 (17.3%) of the 5548 subjects were included in the Skipper group. Intake of daily calories, proteins, carbohydrates and fats was the lowest in the Skipper group. Breakfast size increased linearly with an increased intake of daily calories, proteins, carbohydrates and fats. Body mass index ($23.4\;kg/m^2$) and waist circumference (79.6 cm) were the lowest in the Small intake group. In the Small intake group, triglycerides, fasting plasma glucose, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure were the lowest, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were the highest. The number of metabolic risk factors was the lowest in Small intake group. Odds ratio of metabolic syndrome (Odds ratio=0.612) was the lowest in Small intake group. Along with increasing breakfast size, the odds ratio also increased. In this study, breakfast size was found to influence metabolic risk factors. Skipping breakfast worsened metabolic risk factors, while a small breakfast size had a favorable effect on metabolic risk factors.

• Research in Plant Disease
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.157-163
• /
• 2019

This study aimed to assess the incidence and distribution of toxigenic fungi in Korean oat. Toxigenic fungi were isolated from oat samples collected from 12 oat fields from heading to harvest in 2017 and 2018. A total of 745 fungal colonies were isolated based on morphology and identified using marker genes. About 92% of the fungal isolates were Fusarium spp. and others were Penicillium (5.9%) and Aspergillus (2.1%). Fusarium isolates comprised mostly of F. asiaticum (83.1%), followed by F. incarnatum (5.4%), F. proliferatum (3.5%), F. fujikuroi (2.8%), F. tricinctum species complex (FTSC) 11 (1.5%) and F. graminearum (1.0%). About 97% of F. asiaticum was nivalenol type, and 3-acetyl deoxynivalenol (3.2%) and 15-acetyl deoxynivalenol (0.4%) types also were found. Pathogenicity test of the selected Fusarium isolates revealed that F. asiaticum isolates have a wide range of virulence depending on the tested plants. F. graminearum and FTSC 11 isolates from blighted spikelets were the most virulent in naked oat. All Fusarium isolates (n=18) except one (FTSC 11) produced nivalenol (0.2-7.6 ㎍/g), deoxynivalenol (0.03-6.1 ㎍/g), and zearalenone (0.1-27.0 ㎍/g) on rice medium. This study is first report that F. asiaticum causes Fusarium head blight disease of oat in Korea. These findings demonstrate the dominance of F. asiaticum in oat agroecosystems as in rice, wheat and barley in Korea.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.150-159
• /
• 2001

Purpose : We need to reconsider booster vaccination schedule of Japanese encephalitis vaccination. To do that we evaluate the long-term immunogenicity and the incidence of adverse events with inactivated mouse brain derived Nakayama Japanese encephalitis vaccine. Methods : We tested neutalizing antibody for 311 elementary school students by plaque reduction neutralizing test(PRNT) at USAMC-AFRIMS(United States Armed Forces Research Institute of Medical Science/Department of Virology). We evaluated vaccine related adverse events by spontaneous reporting prospectively among 15,487 vaccinees who were vaccinated at public health center and 2,277 elementary school students who were immunized previously by a questionnaire and school health record. Results : According to the time interval from the last booster injection of 311 children, PRNT antibody titers gradually decreased as the interval increased; 239 mIU/mL, 188 mIU/mL, 134 mIU/mL, 49 mIU/mL each at 6, 18, 30, 42 months after the last booster injection. The seropositivity rates were 98%, 99%, 95.6%, 71.4% each at 6, 18, 30, 42 months after the last booster injection. There were 21(0.13%) cases with systemic reactions among 15,487 vaccinees who had visited the hospital by prospective passive reporting system at public health center. According to the questionnaires and school health records in elementary school students, local induration and pain were 17.4% and 14.8%, respectively. Systemic reactions including fever, vomiting, rash were reported in few cases. Conclusion : Biannual booster vaccination that has been recommended so far should not be necessary. Surveillance for adverse events with inactivated mouse brain derived Nakayama vaccine should be strengthened to better assess the number of cases and reactions associated with immunization.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.12 no.2
• /
• pp.195-201
• /
• 2005

Objective : The purpose of this study is to investigate the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of herpes zoster in children and adolescents in Korea and to delineate the effects of varicella vaccine on the incidence of zoster and its complication. Methods : We evaluated the clinical records of 201 patients younger than 20 years admitted for herpes zoster at four hospitals located in Kyung-Gi provine during Jul. 1995 to Jun. 2005. Results : The admitted patients for herpes zoster have increased during the past 10 years. The effects of varicella vaccine on the incidence of herpes zoster remain inconclusive in this study. Only twelve percent of the study patients had underlying diseases. In 34(17%) of 201 patients, complications were confirmed during hospitalization. Of 34 patients, meningitis occurred most frequently. Irrespective of varicella vaccination, occurrence of complications was higher in patients who had experienced varicella previously(=overt varicella infection) than patients who had not(=subclinical varicella infection). In case of no previous varicella history, we found complications to be much lower in those who had received the varicella vaccine than those who had not. Conclusion : We cannot conclude whether the varicella vaccine has an effect on the increasing incidence of zoster. We can conclude that the subclinical varicella infection or vaccination for varicella might lead to a decreased incidence of zoster complications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.1-12
• /
• 2004

Purpose : this study purposed to investigate school nursing phenomena in Korea by applying ICNP, the international standard nursing classification system developed by ICN, and to compare school nursing phenomena at elementary, middle and high schools. Method : The subjects of this study are 110 nursing teachers from 82 elementary schools, 16 middle schools, and 12 high schools. In the survey, subjects were asked to score the degree to which phenomena and characteristics of Korean school nursing, identified in previous research, on a 5 point scale. Questionnaires were distributed and recovered by mail and email. The period of data collection was 6 months from July to December 2003. The general characteristics of schools and nursing teachers were represented with frequencies and percentages, the phenomena and characteristics of school nursing with the mean score of the questions, and the phenomena school nursing by school grade with ANOVA and Duncan's posterior analysis. Results : 1) As for the characteristics of schools according to school nursing phenomena related to human behavior, the mean score of questions on inadequate stress management was highest at 3.24 points followed by the score on inadequate weight control (3.23), inadequate eating habits (3.22), the risk of spine disorders (2.68), inadequate emergency management (2.62), inadequate response to sex -related problems (2.19), and smoking and drug use (1.85). 2) As for the characteristics of schools according to school nursing phenomena related to human function, the mean score of questions on oral health management was highest at 3.11 points followed by the score on the risk of digestive system disorder (2.87), improper eyesight management (2.81), the risk of respiratory system disorders (2.75), lack of sexual identity (2.52), and inadequate contagious disease control (2.12). 3) As for the mean score according to school nursing phenomena related to environment, the score of the risk of accidents in classroom was highest as 2.68 points followed by the score of the risk of accidents around the school (2.65), maladjustment to school (2.62), the risk of accidents outside the classroom (2.43), inadequate learning environment (1.83), the risk of exposure to socially and physically harmful environment factors (1.82), and inadequate waste disposal (1.77). 4) This study tested the mean scores of questions corresponding to each school nursing phenomenon in order to see if there is a difference in the school nursing phenomenon among elementary, middle and high schools, and performed Duncan's posterior comparison for school nursing phenomena. A significant difference was found at p<.1. According to the results, school nursing phenomena found to be significantly different among elementary, middle and high schools was smoking and drug use (p<.05), which appeared more problematic in high school than in elementary school. phenomena such as inadequate eating habits, inadequate weight control, inadequate response to sex-related problems and inadequate waste disposal were also found to be statistically different at p<.1; however, according to the result of Duncan's posterior comparison, no difference was found among groups in improper eating habits and improper response to sex-related problems, and a significant difference was found between middle and high schools in inadequate weight control and inadequate waste disposal. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to plan school health projects focused on the characteristic school nursing phenomena that had high scores and to develop and execute school healthe projects in accordance with the characteristics of elementary, middle and high schools. Considering that the scores of school nursing phenomena related to human behavior are high, it is necessary to introduce school health promotion projects in a systematic way.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.41 no.3
• /
• pp.225-231
• /
• 2005

The characteristics of cell growth and medium-chain-length polyhydroxyalkanoate (MCL-PHA) biosynthesis of Pseudomonas chlororaphis HS21 were investigated using plant oils as the carbon substrate. The organism was efficiently capable of utilizing plant oils, such as palm oil, corn oil, and sunflower oil, as the sole carbon source for growth and MCL-PHA production. When palm oil (5 g/L) was used as the carbon source, the cell growth and MCL-PHA accumulation of this organism occurred simultaneously, and a high dry cell weight (2.4 g/L) and MCL-PHA ($40.2\;mol{\%}$ of dry cell weight) was achieved after 30 hr of batch-fermentation. The repeating unit in the MCL-PHA produced from palm oil composed of 3-hydroxyhexanoate ($7.0\;mol{\%}$), 3-hydroxyoctanoate ($45.3\;mol{\%}$), 3-hydroxydecanoate ($39.0\;mol{\%}$), 3-hydroxydodecanoate ($6.8\;mol{\%}$), and 3-hydroxytetradecanoate ($1.9\;mol{\%}$), as determined by GC/MS. Even though glucose was a carbon substrate that support cell growth but not PHA production, the conversion rate of palm oil to PHA was significantly increased when glucose was fed as a cosubstrate, suggesting that bioconversion of some functionalized carbon substrates to related polymers in P chlororaphis HS21 could be enhanced by the co-feed of good carbon substrates for cell growth. In addition, the change of compositions of repeating units in MCL-PHAs synthesized from the plant oils was markedly affected by the supplementation of acrylic acid, an inhibitor of fatty acid ${\beta}-oxidation$. The addition of acrylic acid resulted in the increase of longer chain-length repeating units, such as 3-hydroxydodecanoate and 3-hydroxytetradecanoate, in the MCL-PHAs produced. Particularly, MCI-PHAs containing high amounts of unsaturated repeating units could be produced when sunflower oil and corn oil were used as the carbon substrate. These results suggested that the alteration of PHA synthesis pathway by acrylic acid addition can offer the opportunity to design new functional MCL-PHAs and other unusual polyesters that have unique physico-chemical properties.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.15-20
• /
• 2010

Xenotransplantation of pig organs is complicated by the existence of polytropic replication-competent porcine endogenous retroviruses (PERV) capable of infecting human cells. Two classes of infectious human-tropic replication-competent PERVs (PERV-A and PERV-B) and one class of ecotropic PERV-C are known. The potential for recombination between ecotropic PERV-C and human-tropic PERVs adds another level of infectious risk. A recombinant PERV-A/C (PERV-A14/220) virus is 500-fold more infectious than PERV-A. Two determinants of this high infectivity was identified; one was isoleucine-to-valine substitution at position 140 in RBD (receptor binding domain), and the other lies within the PRR (proline rich region) of the envelope protein. To examine whether the effects of the cytoplasmic tail of the PERV-C Env on fusogenesity also influences infectivity, we constructed a pseudotype retroviral vectors containing MoMLV core protein and PERV envelopes. Pseudotyping experiments with the PERV envelope glycoproteins indicated that recombinant PERV-A/C virus is 10-fold more infectious than PERV-A by lacZ staining. This result supports the suggestion that viral transduction of PERV-A/C is enhanced by a membrane-proximal cytoplasmic amphiphilic ${\alpha}$-helix in PERV-C Env tail.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.47-53
• /
• 2011

The seasonal occurrence of Riptortus pedestris Fabricius was investigated using pheromone traps baited with its aggregation pheromone in the fields with various crop composition (mixture culture of barley and hairy vetch in Asan, Chungnam; monoculture of hairy vetch in Yuseung, Daejeon) from mid-May to mid-July of seed gathering season in 2010. The invasion of R. pedestris into the experimental fields began to increase rapidly from late-June in which period hairy vetch and barley reach the beginning of seed formation stage. After seed gathering season in mid-July, the invasion rate of R. pedestris decreased, and the activity was continually observed till early-November. In addition to dominant R. pedestris species, 33 species of hemiptera including Apolyaus watajii, Dolycoris baccarum, Adelphocoris suturalis, and Yemma exlis were collected, which indicated abundant species diversity in the hairy vetch fields. In the laboratory, R. pedestris did not developed successfully to adult stage on food sources of hairy vetch, with decreasing survival rate after 4th instar and the failure of emergence to adult stage. Also, R. pedestris showed higher preference on soybeans than hairy vetch. Consequently, hairy vetch may be not true host for the development and survival of R. pedestris. It is considered that R. pedestris is a temporary visitor at the season of seed formation in hairy vetch fields.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.53 no.5
• /
• pp.550-560
• /
• 2002

Background : Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in both men and women. Although most cases of lung cancer occur in the sixty to eight decades of life, 5 to 10% are diagnosed at a young age. There are characteristic features in young patients with lung cancer that differ from those in older patients with lung cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine if the basal characteristics and survival in young patients with lung cancer differed from those of old patients. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 94 young patients who were under 45 years of age and compared them with 1,728 old patients (= 46 years of age) in 4 medical schools at Daegu, between August 1986 and July 1995. Results : Significantly more female patients and adenocarcinomas were found in the young patients group. when compared to the old patients. Cough and sputum were the most frequent presenting symptom in both age groups. This was followed by chest discomfort, dyspnea and hemoptysis. The rates of smoking was significantly lower in the young patients. There was no statistical difference in the severity of the disease in terms of staging between the two age groups. Young patients received treatment more frequently than the older patients. The location of the primary tumors was equally frequent in both the upper and lower lobe. However, the survival was bettrer in the young patients(median survival time, 67.3 weeks), when compared to the old patients (median survival time, 26.8 weeks) (p<0.05). Conclusion : Females and adenocarcinoma patients were predominant in young patients with lung cancer. The young patients appeared to have significantly better prognosis.