• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.73.1-73.11
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• 2021

Background: Feline calicivirus (FCV) is a common pathogen of felids, and FCV vaccination is regularly practiced. The genetic variability and antigenic diversity of FCV hinder the effective control and prevention of infection by vaccination. Improved knowledge of the epidemiological characteristics of FCV should assist in the development of more effective vaccines. Objectives: This study aims to determine the prevalence of FCV in a population of cats with FCV-suspected clinical signs in Hangzhou and to demonstrate the antigenic and genetic relationships between vaccine status and representative isolated FCV strains. Methods: Cats (n = 516) from Hangzhou were investigated between 2018 and 2020. The association between risk factors and FCV infection was assessed. Phylogenetic analyses based on a capsid coding sequence were performed to identify the genetic relationships between strains. In vitro virus neutralization tests were used to assess antibody levels against isolated FCV strains in client-owned cats. Results: The FCV-positive rate of the examined cats was 43.0%. Risk factors significantly associated with FCV infection were vaccination status and oral symptoms. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a radial phylogeny with no evidence of temporal or countrywide clusters. There was a significant difference in the distribution of serum antibody titers between vaccinated and unvaccinated cats. Conclusions: This study revealed a high prevalence and genetic diversity of FCV in Hangzhou. The results indicate that the efficacy of FCV vaccination is unsatisfactory. More comprehensive and refined vaccination protocols are an urgent and unmet need.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2010

Animal disease surveillance system, defined as the continuous investigation of a given population to detect the occurrence of disease or infection for control purposes, has been key roles to assess the health status of an animal population and, more recently, in international trade of animal and animal products with regard to risk assessment. Especially, for a system aiming to determine whether or not a disease is present in a population sensitivity of the system should be maintained high enough not to miss an infected animal. Therefore, when planning the implementation of surveillance system a number of factors that affecting surveillance sensitivity should be taken into account. Of these parameters sample size is of important, and different approaches are used to calculate sample size, usually depending on the objective of surveillance systems. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sensitivity of the current national serological surveillance programs for four selected bovine diseases assuming a specified sampling plan, to examine factors affecting the probability of detection, and to provide sample sizes required for achieving surveillance goal of detecting at least an infection in a given population. Our results showed that, for example, detecting low level of prevalence (0.2% for bovine tuberculosis) requires selection of all animals per typical Korean cattle farm (n = 17), and thus risk-based target surveillance for high risk groups can be an alternative strategy to increase sensitivity while not increasing overall sampling efforts. The minimum sample size required for detecting at least one positive animal was sharply increased as the disease prevalence is low. More importantly, high reliability of prevalence estimation was expected with increased sampling fraction even when zero-infected animal was identified. The effect of sample size is also discussed in terms of the maximum prevalence when zero-infected animals were identified and on the probability of failure to detect an infection. We suggest that for many serological surveillance systems, diagnostic performance of the testing method, sample size, prevalence, population size, and statistical confidence need to be considered to correctly interpret results of the system.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.265-273
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• 2009

A cross-sectional survey was undertaken to identify risk factors and clinical signs associated with parasitic helminth infections of cattle in Mymensignh district of Bangladesh. A nonrandom convenience sampling method was used to select 138 animals from 40 farmers/herds. The eggs per gram of faeces (epg) for nematodes and trematodes were determined by McMaster and Stoll's methods respectively. Animal-level and herd-level data were recorded by means of a questionnaire. Multi-collinearity amongst explanatory variables were assessed using $2{\times}2{\times}\;X^2$ test and one variable in a pair was dropped if $P{\leq}0.05$ formultiple logistic regression models. Association study between outcome and explanatory variables was conducted using classification tree, random forests and multiple logistic regression. A positive epg was considered as infected. Analyses were performed using $STATA^{(R)}$, version 8.0/Intercooled and $R^{(R)}$, Version 2.3.0. Seventy eight percent of the cattle were found to be infected with at least one type of helminth. Twenty four pairs of combinations of explanatory variables showed significant associations. Male animals (OR=3.3, P=.006, 95% CI=1.4, 7.7) were associated with significantly increased prevalence of nematode infection. Female cattle of the study area are mostly cross-breed, kept indoor, fed relatively good diet and not used for draught purpose. Males are used for draught purpose thereby more exposed to nematode infective stage and provided with relatively poor diet. So stressed male cattle may become more susceptible to nematode infection. All of the three statistical techniques selected gender and lumen motility as most important variables in association with nematode infection in cattle. The result of this survey can only be extrapolated to the periurban cattle population of traditional management system.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2013

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an endemic parasitic infection in the Mediterranean region, including Libya and its Al-jabal Al-gharbi province. We aimed at studying the occupational relevance as well as other epidemiological aspects of CL. We investigated 140 CL cases who attended at Gharyan outpatient polyclinic during a period of 6 months in 2009. CL infection was clinically diagnosed and confirmed by demonstration of Leishmania parasites on smears from lesions. Our findings showed that males were more affected than females (P=0.04), and people above 10-years were more affected than younger ones (P=0.0001). A significant percent of CL cases belonged to Al-Kawasem subprovince (P=0.0001). Farm-related activities were the most frequent occupations among CL cases (P=0.04). In addition to farm workers, housewives and students are at risk groups since they are engaged at farm activities. Moreover, those who have occupations that require staying outdoors for a part of night, e.g., policemen, are also at risk. Compared to children, adult CL patients had multiple lesions (P=0.001) that were more prevalent in their upper and lower extremities than the face (P=0.0001). We conclude that CL is a major health problem in Al-jabal Al-gharbi province of Libya. The presence of rodents and sandflies makes it a suitable environment for Leishmania to spread in an endemic epidemiological pattern. Being engaged in farming activities or outdoor occupations increases the risk of infection. Various clinical patterns of CL suggest the presence of more than 1 species of Leishmania at Al-jabal Al-gharbi province. We propose that the 2 species responsible for CL in this area are L. major and L. tropica. Further investigations to identify the leishmanial species responsible for CL at Al-jabal Al-gharbi together with adoption of preventive and control programs are needed.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.57.1-57.12
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• 2024

Importance: Sheep and goat pox (SGP) virus infection is a highly fatal viral infection of small ruminants that causes major production losses in sheep and goats in Ethiopia while also limiting international trade. Objective: This study aimed to estimate the seroprevalence of SGP infection and assess related risk variables. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to August 2023 on 384 serum samples taken from sheep and goats. A serum neutralization test was conducted to detect the presence of antibodies against the SGP virus in Wolaita Sodo Regional Laboratory. Results: The overall seroprevalence rate of SGP was 4.95%. Factors such as sheep (8.26%), female sheep and goats (7.45%), older sheep and goats (8.33%), larger flock size of sheep and goats (10.47%), poorly conditioned sheep and goats (31.58%), sheep and goats with a tick on their skin (10.38%), and animals that had not been vaccinated (5.17%) were found to have higher seroprevalence. Furthermore, the seropositivity in sheep was five times greater than in goats (adjusted odds ratio [AOR], 4.73; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39-15.99). Additionally, large-sized flocks of sheep and goats were more likely to be seropositive to pox disease than small-sized flocks (AOR, 6.73; 95% CI, 1.58-28.67). Conclusions and Relevance: Thus, the study revealed the prevalence of SGP in the Wolaita zone. Additional research should be conducted to estimate the extent of the disease at the regional level, and management measures should be implemented to reduce the economic losses associated with this condition.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.17
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• pp.7251-7255
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• 2014

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) act as tumor suppressors or promoters in neoplasia by regulating relative geneexpression. The association between a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4938723 in miR-34b/c and susceptibility to cancers was inconsistent in previous studies. In this study, we conducted a literature search of PubMed, Web of Science and Embase to identify all relevant studies in this meta-analysis with 6,036 cases and 6,204 controls. We found that the miR-34b/c rs4938723 polymorphism was significantly associated with increased risk of cancers in the heterozygous model (TC versus TT, OR=1.09, 95% CI=1.01-1.18, P=0.02). Subgroup analysis also revealed increased risk for Asian ethnicity in the heterozygous model (TC versus TT, OR=1.12, 95% CI=1.02-1.22, P=0.02), but decreased risk of colorectal cancer in homozygote model (CC versus TT, OR=0.66, 95% CI=0.47-0.92, P=0.02) and in the recessive model (CC versus TC+TT, OR=0.67, 95% CI=0.48-0.93, P=0.02) by cancer type. The current meta-analysis indicated that the miR-34b/c rs4938723 polymorphism may decrease susceptibility to colorectal cancer. Well-designed studies with larger sample size are required to further validate the results.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.631-641
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• 2023

This study conducted an empirical analysis through a survey to analyze the effect of social risk perception caused by COVID-19 on college students' cosmetics purchase behavior. Factors were extracted through factor analysis, and Pearson's correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the correlation of each factor and the impact of variables. To this end, a statistical analysis was conducted using 320 copies of the questionnaire as a sample. Studies have shown that the higher the fear of COVID-19, the higher the fear of infection, changes in life, and awareness of the economic crisis, and the higher the tendency to buy ostentatiously, habitually, and reasonably. The more changes in life, the higher the awareness of the economic crisis, and the higher the trademark habitual purchase and rational purchase behavior. Fear of infection has been shown to affect trademark habitual purchases, and fear of infection and changes in life have been shown to have a significant impact on rational purchase behavior.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.72-83
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to classify, from collected home health care records data, nursing diagnoses according to the NANDA system and nursing interventions according to the NIC system, and to link nursing interventions to nursing diagnoses. For this study, 101 home health care records of clients seen between September, 1994 and November, 1996 at Yonsei Medical Center, Seoul, were analyzed. The results of this study are summarized as follows : 1. The most frequent nursing diagnoses were ‘Risk for infection’ and ‘Altered nutrition : Less than body requirements’, then ‘Impaired skin intergrity’ and ‘Ineffective airway clearance’ in the Exchange pattern of NANDA nine human response patterns. 2. The most frequent nursing interventions were the interventions in the Physiological : Complex domain, there were 690(50.7%) interventions among a total 1347 interventions. This results corresponds to Yom, Young Hee(1995)’s research, both Korean and U.S. nurses used the interventions in the Physiological : Complex do main most often on a daily basis. And respiratory nursing interventions were most frequent because 32.7% of the subjects were respiratory patients. 3. The next step was to link the nursing interventions to nursing diagnoses. The most frequent nursing diagnosis was ‘Risk for infection’ and 19 interventions for ‘Risk for infection’ were used 267 times. Then 14 interventions for ‘Impaired skin integrity’ were used 258 times, 12 interventions for ‘Ineffrective airway clearance’ were used 193 times, 12 interventions for ‘Altered nutrition : Less than body requirements’ were used 122 times, 10 interventions for ‘Activity intolerance’ were used 75 times, and 11 interventions for ‘Knowledge deficit’ were used 52 times. 4. The use of standardized classification in the areas of nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions facilitates clinical decision making and prompt nursing activity, and so enhances the effectiveness of nursing care.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 2024

Background : Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant public health issue worldwide, particularly among healthcare workers (HCWs) at high risk of exposure. Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a state where individuals are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis but do not show clinical symptoms. Early detection and treatment of LTBI are crucial to prevent progression to active TB. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of LTBI among Korean Medicine (KM) workers in Seoul, South Korea. Methods : This study analyzed 368 adults aged 19 and over working in Korean medicine institutions in Seoul by September 2023. Participants underwent a tuberculin skin test (TST) and completed a survey collecting demographic information, occupation, work duration, smoking status, BCG vaccination, TB history, and comorbidities. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests, with significance set at p < 0.05. Results : The average age of participants was 43.1 years, with an LTBI prevalence rate of 3.5%. Significant risk factors included age and history of TB, Older age and a history of TB were associated with higher LTBI positivity. Conclusion : The study identified the prevalence and risk factors of LTBI among Korean medicine workers in Seoul. The findings highlight the need for targeted LTBI screening and preventive measures, especially for older workers and those with a history of TB. While the prevalence was lower than in other healthcare settings, the results emphasize the importance of regular LTBI testing and prevention education for KM workers. Future large-scale studies are needed to confirm these findings and further understand the relationship between various risk factors and LTBI in KM settings.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.236-240
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• 2007

Objective : The aim of this study is to analyze on the external ventricular drainage [EVD] related ventriculitis, especially on their risk factors, management, and prevention. Methods : From January 2003 to December 2005, a total of 174 EVD catheters were placed in 112 patients at our institution. Of these patients, EVD-related ventriculitis were developed in 15 cases. Clinical variables such as age, sex, prior clinical diagnosis, placement of EVD insertion, duration of EVD, total numbers of EVD per person, and outcome were analyzed in theses cases to verify the risk factors, causative agents and outcomes. Results : Fifteen cases of EVD related ventriculitis were noted presenting infection incidence of 13.39 % per patient and 8.62% per procedure. Of these, five patients died from sepsis, seven patients were recovered from infection but neurological complications remained and three patients were recovered without any complications. Microbes were obtained from cerebrospinal fluid only in six patients. Acinetobactoer baumanii was the most common pathogen in our study [4 cases]. Among the various risk factors, only the prior clinical diagnosis showed the statistical significance. Patients who underwent decompressive craniectomy after severe brain trauma showed unfavorable outcome because of possible contaminative environment compared with other cases. Conclusion : EVD is considered as a safe procedure with good control of intracranial pressure if meticulous care is provided for EVD procedure and maintenance. With regards to risk factors and prevention, the higher incidence and unfavorable outcome was seen especially in patients with severe head trauma. Thus, special attention is required in these clinical settings.