• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.588-600
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• 2019

Each year Malaria affects over 200 million people worldwide. Particularly, African continent is highly hit by this disease. According to many researches, this continent is ideal for Anopheles mosquitoes which transmit Malaria parasites to thrive. Rainfall volume is one of the major factor favoring the development of these Anopheles in the tropical Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA). However, the surveillance, monitoring and reporting of this epidemic is still poor and bureaucratic only. In our paper, we proposed a method to fast monitor and report Malaria instances by using Social Network Systems (SNS) and precipitation volume in Nigeria. We used Twitter search Application Programming Interface (API) to live-stream Twitter messages mentioning Malaria, preprocessed those Tweets and classified them into Malaria cases in Nigeria by using Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification algorithm and compared those Malaria cases with average precipitation volume. The comparison yielded a correlation of 0.75 between Malaria cases recorded by using Twitter and average precipitations in Nigeria. To ensure the certainty of our classification algorithm, we used an oversampling technique and eliminated the imbalance in our training Tweets.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.2
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• pp.469-474
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• 2021

Japanese encephalitis (JE) is a common infection caused by the Japanese encephalitis virus in Southeast Asia, which is transmitted to humans through Culex mosquitoes. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to diagnose JE, which is often characterized by the presence of bilateral symmetric thalamic involvement. Here, we report a rare case of JE characterized by leptomeningeal enhancement without thalamic involvement. This leptomeningeal enhancement disappeared with the treatment; however, new non-specific multifocal and bilateral high signal intensities in the cerebral white matter were found on follow-up MRI.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2012

Yellow bitterns (Ixobrychus sinensis) are a small wetland bird common to Asian countries including South Korea, Japan, and China. The aim of this study is to describe diet of yellow bitterns during the breeding season in artificial wetland of northeastern South Korea between May to August 1999-2001. For the purposes of this paper, we observe the frequency of nest visiting by parents during the chick rearing period. A total of 98 boluses regurgitated by 52 chicks aged 1 day to 11 days after hatching form the sample and are shown to contain 323 food items. A bolus contained mean 3.8 items and weighs 0.2 g to 7.7 g. The most regularly occurring food items recorded are fish (63%) and insets (33%). In terms of fish, top mouth minnows (Pseudorasbora parva) and crucian carps (Carassius auratus) are frequently observed. In terms of insects, there are mosquitoes (Diptera), instars of dragonfly (Libelluidae), damselflies (Coenagrinonidae) and water bugs (Diplonychus japonicus). Yellow bitterns were also shown to feed on bull frogs (Rana catesbeiana), shrimp (Palaemonidae), and spiders (Araneae). The size of fish in a bolus ranged from 15.56 mm to 93.73 mm (mean, 37.08 mm). The amount of food can be observed to increase with the age of chicks (r = 0.279, P = 0.025, N = 64) but parents did not provide larger fish as chicks grew. Parent birds visited nests more frequently when they have a larger brood ($F_{1,21}$ = 14.529, P = 0.001). Our results suggest that fish is the most important prey during the breeding season and that age of chicks is related to amount of diet in yellow bitterns.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.78-84
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• 2017

Recently, great demands are rising around the globe for monitoring and studying of long-term ecological changes. To go with the stream, many researchers in South Korea have attempted to share and integrate ecological data for practical use. Although some achievements were made in the meantime, we still have to overcome a big obstacle that existing ecological data in South Korea are mostly spread all over the country in various formats of computer files. In this study, we aim to handle the situation by developing a semi-automatic data conversion tool for Korean ecological data standardization, based on some predefined protocols for ecological data collection and management. The current implementation of this tool works on only five species (libythea celtis, spittle bugs, mosquitoes, pinus, and quercus mongolica), helping data managers to quickly and efficiently obtain a standardized format of ecological data from raw collection data. With this tool, the procedure of data conversion is divided into four steps: data file and protocol selection step, species selection step, attribute mapping step, and data standardization step. To find the usability of this tool, we utilized it to conduct the standardization of raw five species data collected from six different observatory sites of Korean National Parks. As a result, we could obtain a common form of standardized data in a relatively short time. With the help of this tool, various ecological data could be easily integrated into the nationwide common platform, providing broad applicability towards solving many issues in ecological and environmental system.

• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.87-100
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• 1995

Fauna of medically important arthropods in Chindo Island was studied in July 1994. Among eight speices of mosquitoes (Diptera : Culicidae), Culex tritenirohyunchus was predomiant (46.5% of the total0, and Anopheles sinensis the next. Seven specimens of the unidentified Culex sp. which seemed to be new were also collected. Total 23 species of non-biting midges(Diptera : Chiornomidae) were found in Chindo Is. Of them , Chironomus kiiensis was the predominant species (67.3%) , and Ch.flaviplumus the next (15.6%). Three species, Cladopelma viridula, Dicrotendipes septemmaculatus and Harnischia urtilamellata are reported for the first time in Korea, and they are fully re-described with illustrations. Among five species of biting midges (Diptera : Ceraopogenidae) collected, Culicoides punctatus was predominant (88.7%). A species of Foreipomia was also collected, and this genus is not recorded in Korean fauna. Only two species of domiciliary cockroaches, Periplaneta japonica and P.americana were collected in small numbers and Blatella germanica which is known as the most predominant speices in Korea was not found. The predominant speices of field rodents was Apodemus agrarius and thier ectoparasites were Leptotrombidium orientale (Acarina : Tromicibulidae), Lxodes nipponensis (Acarina : Ixodidae) ; Laelaps jettmani and Eulaelaps stabularis (Acarina : Laelapidae).

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.55-65
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• 1984

韓國內 9個道別 地域 가운데 5個道의 駐韓美軍事地域에서 39個의 誘蚊燈에 의하여 2,114 Trap night를 稼動하여 2년동안 채집하여 얻은 결과는 다음과 같다. 1. 3屬, 14種, 65,847마리의 암모기가 收集되었으며 금빛 숲모기, 중국 얼룩날개 모기, 빨간 집모기, 작은 빨간 집모기가 가장 넓게 분포되어 主種을 이루었다. 2. 작은 빨간 집모기가 수집된 전체 암모기의 55.4%를 차지하였으며 5개도 전역에 걸쳐 분포되었으나 90% 이상이 평택지역에서 수집되었다. 이 종은 7월부터 수집되기 시작하여 8월에 가장 높은 개체군 밀도를 나타내고 9월부터 감소한다. 1982년 채집된 모기수는 1981년 모기수의 5배에 達했다. 3. 중국 얼룩 날개 모기는 수집된 전체 암모기수의 28.2%를 나타냈고 5월부터 散發的으로 나타나서 7,8월에 높은 개체군 밀도를 보이고 9월부터 감소한다. 1981년과 1982년의 채집된 모기수는 큰 差異를 나타내지 않았다. 4. 금빛 숲모기는 수집된 전체 암모기수의 8.8%를 나타냈고 5개도 전역에 걸쳐 발생하나 주로 지방에서 수집되었다. 이 종은 5월부터 나타나서 6월에 가장 높은 개체군 밀도를 보이고 그후부터 감소하는 경향을 보이나 8월에 다시 조금 높은 발생을 나타내나 6월의 그것에 비하여 낮다. 5. 빨간 집모기는 전체 암모기수의 5.3%를 차지하였고 5개도 전역에 여름에 걸쳐 고루 분포되었다. 6. Anopheles lesteri는 평택지역에서 네마리가 채집되었으나 이 종은 중국 얼룩 날개 모기와 형태학적인 區分이 어려워서 더욱 면밀한 考察이 필요되어지며 나머지 9종의 모기는 매우 적은 수가 채집되었다. 7. 살충제와 모기 驅除法에 관하여 간락하게 논의되었다.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.281-284
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• 1994

On .lune and .truly 1994, two cases of vivax wl,Blaria were consecutively diagnosed at the Yongsan Hospital, Chung-Ang University in Seoul. The first patient was a soldier sewing in western parts of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) while the second case was a resident of a village near DMZ. Neither patients had history of being abroad. Republic of Korea (ROK) has been free of malaria since the mid-1970s except for imported cases. The two ivfn malaria cases, together with an additional patient detected in 1993, occurred in relatively small areas near DMZ. This necessitated an epidemiologic surveillance. When medical records and blood smears in the areas were examined, no other cases were found. Of 7,723 mosquitoes collected by a black light trap for ho nights in June, 7,066 (91.5%) were Anopheles sinensis. In order to evaluate a significance of the recent malaria occurrence, a surveillance system should be operated in the areas.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.351-353
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• 2010

To investigate the population densities of potential malaria vectors, Anopheles species were collected by light traps in malaria endemic areas, Paju and Gimpo, Gyeonggi-do of Korea. Five Anopheles Hyrcanus sibling species (An. sinensis, An. pullus, An. lesteri, An. kleini, and An. belenrae) were identified by PCR. The predominant species, An. pullus was collected during the late spring and mid-summer, while higher population consists of An. sinensis were collected from late summer to early autumn. These 2 species accounted for 92.1 % of all Anopheles mosquitoes collected, while the other 3 species accounted for 7.9%. Taking into account of these population densities, late seasonal prevalence, and long-term incubation period (9-13 months) of the Korean Plasmodium vivax strain, An. sinensis s.s is thought to play an important role in the transmission of vivax malaria in the study areas.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.632-643
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• 2019

In recent years, large scale damages from arbovirus infections by mosquitoes have been reported worldwide due to factors such as change in global climate, increased overseas travel, and increased logistics movement between countries. Among them, Zika virus and dengue virus belonging to genus Flavivirus are representative. In this study, we performed in-depth analyses of the envelope (E) protein that perform essential functions for host infection of Zika virus and dengue virus based on bioinformatics databases. The domain analysis of E protein was performed to determine the type, location, and function, and homology analysis for each domain. From these results, EDIII showing low homology was identified. The homology and immunogenicity of each peptide constituting EDIII were analyzed and three-dimensional structures were modeled. Furthermore, we discussed their biological meaning and how they could be used.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2000

Akabane disease is transmitted through mosquitoes in cattle, sheep and goats. It shows congenital abnormalities including encephalomyetitis, hydranencephaly, neurogenic arthrogryposis, and deformed neonatal calves. Akabane viruses, 93FMX and K-9 strain, were isolated from fetal matrix of aborted cow and blood of healthy cow, respectively. S gene sequences of 93FMX and K-9 showed 100% homology with that of OBE-1 strain isolated in Japan. Based upon our sequencing data, we synthesized specific primers for PCR diagnosis. Using these primers, we were able to amplify the S gene of Akabane virus not only from the culture fluid of Vero cells but also from the brain tissue of suckling mouse inoculated with, Akabane virus. These PCR products were confirmed by Southern blot hybridization. Not only the sensitivity of PCR test was high enough to detect the viruses of $10^{1.0}TCID_{50}/ml$, but also the time for diagnosis was significantly shorter than that of the virus isolation by tissue culture method. This method was also effective for the detection of Akabane virus in the cerebrum of fetus. RT-PCR method may be used for a useful diagnostic test of the clinical cases of Akabane disease.