• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.473-486
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• 2019

In the aquatic environment, microorganisms are predominantly organized as biofilms. Biofilms are formed by the aggregation of microbial cells and are surrounded by a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secreted by the microbial cells. Biofilms are attached to various surfaces, such as the living tissues, indwelling medical devices, and piping of the industrial potable water system. Biofilms formed from a single species has been extensively studied. However, there is an increased research focus on multispecies biofilms in recent years. It is important to assess the microbial mechanisms underlying the regulation of multispecies biofilm formation to determine the drinking water microbial composition. These mechanisms contribute to the predominance of the best-adapted species in an aquatic environment. This review focuses on the interactions in the multispecies biofilms, such as coaggregation, co-metabolism, cross-species protection, jamming of quorum sensing, lateral gene transfer, synergism, and antagonism. Further, this review explores the dynamics and the factors favoring biofilm formation and pathogen transmission within the drinking water distribution systems. The understanding of the physiology and biodiversity of microbial species in the biofilm may aid in the development of novel biofilm control and drinking water disinfection processes.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.21-31
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• 1984

The purpose of this study was to find out more effective schemes on safe water supply in rural area. Then, this study was carried out to investigate drinking water qualities of 20 simple piped water supply systems and 20 water pumps in Chun Sung County, Kang Won Province from 12th December to 24th December, 1983 and was compared this results with the previous results that had been carried out at the same sample sites from 1st July to 30th August, 1981. 1. This results of water quality in winter are better than the previous results in summer because this results are identified as safe 20%, unsafe 35% in simple piped water supply systems, safe 50%, unsafe 20% in water pumps and the previous results are identified as safe 1.8%, unsafe 78.6% in simple piped water supply systems, safe 5.5%, unsafe 73.6% in water pumps. 2. Water qualities of water pumps are better than that of simple piped water supply systems because the former is identified as safe 50%, unsafe 20% and the latter is identified as safe 20%, unsafe 35%. 3. Drinking waters that are in need of chlorination in winter as well as summer are 45% of simple piped water supply systems and 30% of water pumps.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.561-568
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• 2019

Objectives: The most commonly detected heavy metals in rocks and soils, including Pb, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn and As, are representative pollutants discharged from abandoned mines and have been listed as potential sources of contamination in drinking water. This study focused on increasing the removal efficiency of heavy metals from drinking water resources by surface modification of natural adsorbents to reduce potential health risks. Methods: Iron oxide coating and graft polymerization with zeolites and talc was conducted for bipolar surface modification to increase the combining capacity of heavy metals for their removal from water. The removal efficiency of heavy metals was measured before and after the surface modification. Results: The removal efficiency of Pb, Cu, and Cd by surface modified zeolite showed 100, 92, and 61.5%, respectively, increases compared to 64, 64, and 38% for non-modified zeolite. This implies that bipolar surface modified natural adsorbents have a good potential use in heavy metal removal. The more interesting finding is the removal increase for As, which has both cation and anion characteristics showing 27% removal efficiency where as non-modified zeolite showed only 2% removal. Conclusions: Zeolite is one of the most widely used adsorptive materials in water treatment processes and bipolar surface modification of zeolite increases its applicability in the removal of heavy metals, especially As.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.28
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• pp.9.1-9.5
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• 2013

Objectives Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a powerful tool for assessing exposure in epidemiologic studies. We used GIS to determine the geographic extent of contamination by perfluorooctanoic acid, C8 (PFOA) that was released into the environment from the DuPont Washington Works Facility located in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Methods Paper maps of pipe distribution networks were provided by six local public water districts participating in the community cross-sectional survey, the C8 Health Project. Residential histories were also collected in the survey and geocoded. We integrated the pipe networks and geocoded addresses to determine which addresses were serviced by one of the participating water districts. The GIS-based water district assignment was then compared to the participants' self-reported source of public drinking water. Results There were a total of 151,871 addresses provided by the 48,800 participants of the C8 Health Project that consented to geocoding. We were able to successfully geocode 139,067 (91.6%) addresses, and of these, 118,209 (85.0%) self-reported water sources were confirmed using the GIS-based method of water district assignment. Furthermore, the GIS-based method corrected 20,858 (15.0%) self-reported public drinking water sources. Over half (54%) the participants in the lowest GIS-based exposure group self-reported being in a higher exposed water district. Conclusions Not only were we able to correct erroneous self-reported water sources, we were also able to assign water districts to participants with unknown sources. Without the GIS-based method, the reliance on only self-reported data would have resulted in exposure misclassification.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.164-168
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• 2008

Perchlorate, which is still unregulated, is found in tap water, posing a threat to public health. In and out of Korea, there is no clear standard for drinking water quality or discharge. To make matters worse, Perchlorate study is in its infancy in Korea. This research tracked fresh water and purified water of water purification facility A and B located at the city of D, where Nak-dong River is being utilized as the purified water. And it was found that purified water shows no particular pattern in Perchlorate concentrations but represented a higher level of concentration compared to fresh water. With utilizing the research results, the study sought the impact of activated-carbon treatment process on Perchlorate elimination and found out that Perchlorate concentrations increased 38% after the process. The result proves that conventional water purification process can't eliminate Perchlorate. Therefore, it is reasonable that Perchlorate discharge from sources should be minimized.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.1558-1562
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• 2007

To elucidate the influence of pipe materials on the VBNC (viable but nonculturable) state and bacterial numbers in drinking water, biofilm and effluent from stainless steel, galvanized iron, and polyvinyl chloride pipe wafers were analyzed. Although no HPC (heterotrophic plate count) was detected in the chlorinated influent of the model system, a DVC (direct viable count) still existed in the range between 3- and 4-log cells/ml. Significantly high numbers of HPC and DVC were found both in biofilm and in the effluent of the model system. The pipe material, exposure time, and the season were all relevant to the concentrations of VBNC and HPC bacteria detected. These findings indicate the importance of determining the number of VBNC cells and the type of pipe materials to estimate the HPC concentration in water distribution systems and thus the need of determining a DVC in evaluating disinfection efficiency.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.434-442
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• 2019

Objectives: This study was performed in order to report the epidemiological features of a food poisoning outbreak caused by multiple pathogens in a high school in Chungcheongnam-do Province, Korea in April 2019 and to suggest measures to prevent a similar incidence. Methods: A total of 39 patients with diarrhea were examined. Environmental samples were obtained from 6 food handlers, 4 food utensils, 72 preserved foods served during the food poisoning outbreak, 9 door handles, 10 drinking water samples from water dispensers, and 6 ground water samples from water taps. These analyzed to detect viruses and bacteria. Results: Among the 39 patients, 21 cases (53.8%) of enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC), 7 cases of Staphylococcus aureus (17.9%), and 17 cases of norovirus (43.6%) were positive, and in 16 of the cases a co-infection with at least one other pathogen were observed. EAEC was assumed to be transmitted from contaminated drinking water because it was also detected in the water sample from a water dispenser in the dormitory. Staphylococcus aureus was isolated only in the fecal samples of patients, meaning it was not possible to trace its origin. The genotype of norovirus detected in the drinking water and ground water was consistent with that isolated from patients, and it was determined that the norovirus infection originated from the school's water environment. Conclusions: These findings indicate that a lack of environmental hygiene management related to school meals caused the food poisoning incident. In particular, a lack of management of drinking water, water supply, and personal hygiene should be pointed out. This should be urgently addressed and continuous monitoring should be carried out in the future. In addition, students and staff should be educated and trained to improve their personal hygiene.

• KSII Transactions on Internet and Information Systems (TIIS)
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-63
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• 2024

One of the biggest dangers in the globe is water contamination. Water is a necessity for human survival. In most cities, the digging of borewells is restricted. In some cities, the borewell is allowed for only drinking water. Hence, the scarcity of drinking water is a vital issue for industries and villas. Most of the water sources in and around the cities are also polluted, and it will cause significant health issues. Real-time quality observation is necessary to guarantee a secure supply of drinking water. We offer a model of a low-cost system of monitoring real-time water quality using IoT to address this issue. The potential for supporting the real world has expanded with the introduction of IoT and other sensors. Multiple sensors make up the suggested system, which is utilized to identify the physical and chemical features of the water. Various sensors can measure the parameters such as temperature, pH, and turbidity. The core controller can process the values measured by sensors. An Arduino model is implemented in the core controller. The sensor data is forwarded to the cloud database using a WI-FI setup. The observed data will be transferred and stored in a cloud-based database for further processing. It wasn't easy to analyze the water quality every time. Hence, an Optimized Neural Network-based automation system identifies water quality from remote locations. The performance of the feed-forward neural network classifier is further enhanced with a hybrid GA- PSO algorithm. The optimized neural network outperforms water quality prediction applications and yields 91% accuracy. The accuracy of the developed model is increased by 20% because of optimizing network parameters compared to the traditional feed-forward neural network. Significant improvement in precision and recall is also evidenced in the proposed work.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.85-94
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• 2018

Endocrine disruptors have been concerned in toxicology but now challenged as physiological point especially concerned with exposing dose and period. In this study the low-dose chronic administration of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthaltae (DEHP) during reproductive period was examined to evaluate the possible roles. Adult male and female CD-1 mice were exposed to DEHP with drinking water containing $133{\mu}g/L$ and $1,330{\mu}g/L$ DEHP in water according to OECD 433 guide line and sacrificed just after weaning. The weights of uterus and ovary were decreased by drinking of $1,330{\mu}g/L$ DEHP water. There was not adverse effects on either accumulated mating rate and mating rate depend on estrus stage, pregnancy duration, and sex ration at birth. However, the accumulated rate of successful delivery and litter size were significantly high at $1,330{\mu}g/L$ DEHP water. The number of epididymal sperm was significantly increased by drinking of $1,330{\mu}g/L$ DEHP water. In addition, the number of follicles (primary, secondary, tertiary) were more many than control at $1,330{\mu}g/L$ DEHP water drunk mother. Though further studies are needed to identify what are the mechanism of DEHP in folliculogenesis and spermatogenesis. From this study we firstly report the effect of low-dose chronic administration of DEHP with drinking could change the ovarian follicle population size and spermatogenesis rate. Put together, those finding is different from previous high-dose effects and suggest the physiological role of DEHP in gonads and uterus.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.274-279
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• 2016

Objectives: We investigated bacterial diversity in the Han River water resource protection area in order to provide basic microbiological information on the drinking water safety of the Seoul metropolitan region. Methods: Samples were collected in the spring and winter, but not during the rainy season. Pyrosequencing, gene amplification, and extraction of nucleic acids were employed in this study. Results: In total, 57 and 48 operational taxonomic units were respectively analyzed in samples collected during spring and winter. Proteobacteria were predominant in all samples. The samples contained phylogenetically diverse bacterial communities, with eleven major phyla and 36 genera. Cyanobacteria were predominant in the spring samples, but not in the winter samples. The predominant species in the samples collected during both seasons belonged to the genus Aquamicrobium and Bradyrhizobium. Moreover, no pathogenic bacteria were detected in the samples. Conclusion: Proteobacteria were predominant in the samples from the Han River water source protection area. Cyanobacteria were more predominant in the spring samples than in the winter samples, but Aquamicrobium and Bradyrhizobium were predominant in both sampling seasons.