• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.106-114
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• 2006

Purpose : Studying the serotypes and emm genotype of group A streptococci(GAS) hold a key role in the investigation of epidemiology, pathogenesis, and resistance to antibiotics. We planed to find out the possible differences in serotypes and genotypes between the invasive and the non-invasive GAS infection. Methods : We obtained 39 isolates from the patients hospitalized in 2004 with the diagnosis of invasive GAS infectious diseases in the Severance Hospital, Yonsei University. We sent the isolates to the WHO Collaboratory Center in University of Minnesota and analyzed T serotypes and emm genotypes. These results were compared with non-invasive GAS infections in our hospital. Results : Compared this data with the results of 2003 to 2004, T2/28, T3, T5/27/44, T9 and NT were more prevalent. The NT showed statistically significant difference(P=0.019). The emm 3, emm 9, emm 18, emm 44 and emm provision type STG485 were more frequent genotypes compared with the study in 2003~2004, relatively. The emm provision type STG485 had statistically significant difference(P=0.000). The incidence of T12 plus T4, known as erythromycin(EM) resistant serotypes, was as low as 17.9% in this study, compared with those of non-invasive strains. Conclusion : The incidence of EM-resistant strains is supposed not to be higher in invasive GAS infection. We could find out possible higher incidence of rheumatogenic strains in the invasive GAS infections. It seems to be important to have an effort on studying of serotyping and genotyping for the monitoring of strains and to know the epidemiologic characteristics.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.174-183
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• 2010

Purpose : The organisms causing peritonitis and their antibiotic sensitivities vary in different regions and centers, and these data are necessary to establish regional treatment guidelines. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in incidence and characteristics of the organisms that cause peritonitis in children undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD) during recent 10 years. Methods : We retrospectively collected and analyzed the data from medical records of 110 children on PD during the period from 2000 to 2010. Results : One hundred and forty episodes of peritonitis have occurred in 57 patients. The overall incidence of peritonitis was 0.43 episodes/patient year, and similar incidence have been maintained since 2003. Sixty percent of the patients experienced peritonitis within 1 year of PD, and all patients commencing PD in infancy experienced peritonitis. Gram positive (G (+)), gram negative (G (-)) organisms and fungi were cultured in 58%, 38%, and 4.1% respectively and cultures were negative in 13.6%. Staphylococcus was the most common G (+) organism, and Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter were 2 most frequent G (-) organisms isolated. Fifty-six percent of the G (+) organisms were sensitive to first generation cephalosporin and 91% of G (-) pathogens were sensitive to ceftazidime. Methicillin-resistance rate was not higher in children less than 2 years of age than in those more than 2 years. Conclusion : An additional breakthrough has to be made to further reduce the incidence of peritonitis. Treatment guideline customized for peritonitis in Korean children on PD need to be established through a nationwide co-work.

• International Journal of Highway Engineering
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.97-109
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• 2009

One of the main causes of asphalt rutting is high temperature of the pavement. Nevertheless, there has been few research on lowering the pavement temperature for reducing rutting. This study investigated the performance characteristics of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement, which is known to have a temperature reducing effect. The purpose of this study is to quantify the temperature reducing effect of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement and its effect of reducing rutting through Accelerated Pavement Testing(APT). Additionally, the possibility of reducing the thickness of the pavement in comparison to general dense grade pavement by analyzing structural layer coefficient of moisture retaining pavement. A total of three test sections consisting of two moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement sections and one general dense-grade porous asphalt pavement section were constructed for this study. Heating and spraying of water were carried out in a regular cycle. The loading condition was 8.2 ton of wheel load, the tire pressure of $7.03kgf/cm^2$, and the contact area of $610cm^2$. The result of this experiment revealed that the temperature reducing effect of the pavement was about $6.6{\sim}7.9^{\circ}C$(average of $7.4^{\circ}C$) for the middle layer and $7.9{\sim}9.8^{\circ}C$(average of $8.8^{\circ}C$) for surface course, resulting in a rutting reduction of 26% at the pavement surface. Additionally, the structural layer coefficient of moisture retaining pavement measured from a laboratory test was 0.173, about 1.2 times that of general dense grade pavement. The general dense-grade porous asphalt pavement test section exhibited rutting at all layers of surface course, middle layer, and base layer, while the test sections of moisture-retaining porous asphalt pavement manifested rutting mostly at surface course only.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.19-28
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• 2005

Scuticociliatosis has badly settled one of most damaging diseases during the seedling production process of olive flounder. Paralichthys olivaceus in Korea. We isolated a new type of Scuticociliate from flounder. The parasite metamorphoses to ciliate and cyst phases with each other by environmental changes and survive for a relatively long span. The ciliate was measured average 41.8 ${\mu}m$ in length and 21.0 ${\mu}m$ in width, and cyst was 17.0 ${\mu}m$ and 13.5 ${\mu}m$, respectively. Nutritional condition was determined as a major parameter of metamorphosing between ciliate and cyst stages. The ciliate transforms to a cyst stage because of food shortage, and the cyst returns to a ciliate stage with a favorite environmental condition and shows active growth and reproduction. The ciliate multiplied at the maximal density of $2.9 {\times} 10^5 {m\ell}^{-1}$cells in vitro cultivation at $15 ^{\circ}C$temperature using MS BHI medium and bacterial food sources. The ciliate could be proliferated at a 2.5 to $30 ^ \circ}C$ temperature range, pH 6 to 9, and 1 to 55 ppt salinity. Particularly, it survived over one week at $0 ^{\circ}C$temperature showing a high resistance against unfavorable environmental conditions. And the cyst survived for 320 days in the condition of $5 ^{\circ}C$with no feeding, but its survival period was markedly shortened in higher temperature conditions. The chemotherapeutants (formalin and hydrogen peroxide) were clarified as effective chemicals against the ciliate during in vitro trials, but the effect of therapeutants differed in proportion, depending upon the density and the bathing time of chemical compounds.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.20 no.5 s.94
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• pp.376-382
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• 2005

Avermectin (AVM) $B_{1a}$ produced by Streptomyces avermitilis via polyketide pathway is a secondary metabolite with powerful anthelmintic and insecticidal activities, thus being used as an efficient agent in the field of agriculture and animal health. It has been reported that a precursor for AVM $B_{1a}$ biosynthesis was isoleucine and the biosynthetic pathway of AVM $B_{1a}$ was closely similar to that of fatty acid. Based on understanding of the biosynthetic pathway of AVM $B_{1a}$, we intended to screen various mutants resistant against O-methyl threonine (OMT), an isoleucine-anti metabolite, and/or mutants resistant against p-fluoro phenoxy acetic acid (pFAC), an inhibitor of fatty acid biosynthesis. It was inferred that these mutants could produce AVM $B_{1a}$ more efficiently, due to the acquired capability of not only overproducing isoleucine intracellularly but also channelling metabolized carbon-sources into the polyketide pathway, thus leading to enhanced biosynthesis of AVM $B_{1a}$. The resulting mutant (PFA-1 strain) resistant against 100 ppm of pFAC was able to produce approximately 42 fold higher amount of AVM $B_{1a}$ compared to the parallel mother strain (4,200 vs. 100 units/l). In addition, through the process of continuous strain improvement program carried out by gradually increasing the OMT concentration, it was possible to obtain a more attractive mutant with greater AVM $B_{1a}$ production capacity (9,000 units/l). Notable was that significantly higher producer (12,000 units/l) could be selected through further screening of the resistant mutants, this time, to even higher concentration of PFAC. Meanwhile, through the analysis of AVM Bla production histograms (i.e., number of strains according to their AVM $B_{1a}$ biosynthetic ability) for the earlier strains in comparison with the high producers having the characteristics of resistance to OMT and pFAC, it was found that production stability of the high-yielding producers were remarkably improved, as demonstrated by the fact that larger proportion of the mutated strains had greater capability of AVM $B_{1a}$ biosynthesis ($71\%$ in the range between 5,000 and 7,000 units/L; $47\%$ in the range between 6,000 and 7,000 units/l). Based on these consequences, it was concluded that the rational screening strategy based on the understanding of the biosynthetic pathway of AVM $B_{1a}$ was very effective in obtaining high-yielding mutants with the features of enhanced production stability.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2004

Dog spermatozoa were recovered from the caudae epididymides of 23 domestic dogs which were 11 pure breed and 12 mix-breed dogs ranging in age from 0.6 to 3 years. The experimental designs were as follows: 1) the effect of chilling to 0. 10 or 37$^{\circ}C$. 2) the kinetics of chilling injury at 0 or 4$^{\circ}C$, and 3) the effect of sugars at $0^{\circ}C$. Viable spermatozoa were recovered by percoll gradient separation and adjusted to 5${\times}$10$^{7}$ spermatozoa/ml. In experiment 1, spermatozoa were diluted with 0.33 M glucose supplemented with 3% BSA (G-BSA) at 1:2 dilution. Spermatozoa were loaded into straws and exposed at 0, 10 or 37$^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. In experiment 2, spermatozoa were prepared as the experiment 1 and exposed for 0.5, 5, 15, or 30 min at 0 or 4$^{\circ}C$. In experiment 3, spermatozoa were diluted with different sugars (0.33 M galactose, glucose, fructose, mannitol, lactose, sucrose, raffinose) and cooled to $0^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. Sperm membrane integrity, motility and acrosome integrity were assayed after rewarming at 37$^{\circ}C$ for 5 min. Sperm motility and membrane integrity abruptly decreased with decreasing temperature but acrosome integrity gradually decreased (P<0.05). Sperm motility was more sensitive to cold shock than membrane integrity and acrosome integrity. Spermatozoa cooled to $0^{\circ}C$ were more damaged than those at 4$^{\circ}C$. Sperm motility was not different among exposed times at both. 0 and 4$^{\circ}C$. However, membrane integrity of spermatozoa exposed for 30 min at both 0 and 4$^{\circ}C$ was significantly lower (P<0.05). Spermatozoa diluted in 0.33 M fructose or galactose showed lower motility and higher morphological abnormality with coiled tail at $0^{\circ}C$. These sperm characteristics were strongly related. These results indicate that dog epididymal spermatozoa are relatively sensitive to rapid cooling and higher morphological abnormality at $0^{\circ}C$ was shown in spermatozoa diluted in fructose and galactose.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.134-141
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• 2005

To characterize genotypic and phenotypic traits of Staphylococcus aureus isolates (n = 86) from lettuces and raw milk, major virulence-associated genes and antibiotic susceptibility were detected using PCR-based methods and disk diffusion method, respectively. All isolates possessed coagulase gene and showed five polymorphism types [500 bp (2.4%), 580 bp (17.4%), 660 bp (61.6%), 740 bp (17.4%), and 820 bp (1.2%)] due to variable numbers of tandem repeats present within the gene. Two or three different loci of hemolysin gene family were dominant in isolates, 47 of which (55%) possessed combination of hla/hld/hlg-2 genes as the most prevalent types. Among enterotoxin-encoding genes, sea was detected from 32 isolates (37%), sed from 1 isolate (1%), and sea and sed genes were co-detected from 4 isolates (5%), whereas seb, sec, and tsst-1 genes were not detected. All isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, oxacillin, and vancomycin, 85 isolates (99%) to penicillin G, 54 isolates (63%) to chloramphenicol, 51 isolates (59%) to erythromycin, and 7 isolates (8%) to clindamycin. Among resistant isolates, seven displayed multiantibiotic-resistance against two different antibiotics.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.207-224
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• 2006

It has been widely known that the seismic piezo-cone penetration test (SCPTu) is one of the most useful techniques for investigating the geotechnical characteristics such as static and dynamic soil properties. As practical applications in Korea, SCPTu was carried out at two sites in Busan and four sites in Incheon, which are mainly composed of alluvial or marine soil deposits. From the SCPTu waveform data obtained from the testing sites, the first arrival times of shear waves and the corresponding time differences with depth were determined using the cross-over method, and the shear wave velocity $(V_S)$ profiles with depth were derived based on the refracted ray path method based on Snell's law. Comparing the determined $V_S$ profile with the cone tip resistance $(q_t)$ profile, both trends of profiles with depth were similar. For the application of the conventional CPTu to earthquake engineering practices, the correlations between $V_S$ and CPTu data were deduced based on the SCPTu results. For the empirical evaluation of $V_S$ for all soils together with clays and sands which are classified unambiguously in this study by the soil behavior type classification index $(I_C)$, the authors suggested the $V_S-CPTu$ data correlations expressed as a function of four parameters, $q_t,\;f_s,\;\sigma'_{v0}$ and $B_q$, determined by multiple statistical regression modeling. Despite the incompatible strain levels of the downhole seismic test during SCPTu and the conventional CPTu, it is shown that the $V_S-CPTu$ data correlations for all soils, clays and sands suggested in this study is applicable to the preliminary estimation of $V_S$ for the soil deposits at a part in Korea and is more reliable than the previous correlations proposed by other researchers.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.381-391
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of artificial disturbances occurring during water conveyance frequency on benthic macro-invertebrate by comparing and analyzing data before and after the construction of Boryeong dam in Boryeong-si, Chungcheongnam-do. We conducted the survey eight times in four points from April 2016 to September 2017. A total of 13,447 individuals from 125 species, 70 families, 19 orders, 7 classes, and 4 phyla were collected. The result of the community analysis showed that the dominant index was 0.55 (${\pm}0.07$) to 0.47 (${\pm}0.08$), diversity index was 2.06 (${\pm}0.26$) to 2.23 (${\pm}0.28$), evenness index was 0.69 (${\pm}0.05$) to 0.70 (${\pm}0.04$), and richness index was 3.43 (${\pm}0.72$) to 4.03 (${\pm}0.91$). After conveyance, the dominance decreased while the diversity, evenness, and richness increased. The result of the functional group analysis showed the portion of scrapers, filtering-collectors increased while that of shredders, gathering-collectors decreased in the functional feeding group and that the proportion of climbers and clingers increased while that of burrowers and sprawlers decreased in the habitat orientation group. The result of analysis of community stability showed that St. 1 and St. 2 decreased resistance and resilience after conveyance and new species appeared in the III characteristics group while St. 3 and St. 4 did not show much difference. The result of multidimensional scaling analysis showed that the variation of similarity was the highest at St. 1 after conveyance, and the variation of similarity at St. 4 was the lowest.

• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.21-35
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• 1997

The Ag-Pd-Cu alloys containing a small amount of Au is commonly used for dental purposes, because this alloy is cheaper than Au-base alloys for clinical use. However, the most important characteristic of this alloy is age-hardenability, which is not exhibited by other Ag-base dental alloys. The specimens used were Ag-20Pd-20Cu ternary alloy and Au addition alloy. These alloys were melted and casted by induction electic furace and centrifugal casting machine in Ar atmoshpere. These specimens were solution treated for 2hr at $800^{\circ}C$ and were then quenched into iced water, and aged at $350{\sim}550^{\circ}C$ Age-hardening characteristics of the small Au-containing Ag-pPd-Cu dental alloys were investigated by means of hardness testing, X-ray diffraction and electron microscope observations, electrical resistance, differential scanning calorimetric, emergy dispersed spectra and electron probe microanalysis. Principal results are as follows : Hardening occured in two stages, I. e., stage I in low temperature and stage II in high temperature regions, during continuous aging. The case of hardening in stage I was due to the formation of the Llo type face centered tetragonal PdCu-ordered phase in the grain interior and hardening in stage I was affedted by the Cu concentration. In stage II, decomposition of the $\alpha$ solid solution to a PdCu ordered phase(L1o type) and an Agrich ${\alpha}2$ phase occurred and a discontiunous precipitation occurred at the grain boundary. Form the electron microscope study, it was concluded that the cause of age-hardening in this alloy is the precipitation of the PdCu ordered phase, which has AuCu I type face-centered tetragonal structure. Precipitation procedure was ${\alpha}\to{\alpha}+{\alpha}2+PdCu\to{\alpha}1+{\alpha}2+PdCu$ at Pd/Cu = 1 Ag-Pd-Cu alloy is more effective dental alloy as ageing treatment and is suitable to isothermal ageing at $450^{\circ}C$.