• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제42권4호
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• pp.193-200
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• 2021

Flowmeter and oxygen sensors are listed in COVID-19 essential medical devices. This article reports a Teensy microcontroller-based Oxygen mass flow controller (MFC), core part of the oxygen respirator or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The developed MFC consisting of the microcontroller, MEMS flow sensor, and solenoid valve was able to accurately control 0 to 100 sccm of oxygen flow rate. The pressure of vacuum chamber increased proportionally to the flow rate (0.998 of Pearson correlation coefficient). The experimental results proved that the developed MFC exhibits comparable performance to a commercial MFC in accuracy, settling time, linearity with pressure, and repeatability of oxygen mass flow control. It is expected that this simple and cheap MFC is utilized for oxygen therapy against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권7호
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• pp.962-966
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• 2020

Monitoring the mutation dynamics of human severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is critical in understanding its infectivity, virulence and pathogenicity for development of a vaccine. In an "age of mobility," the pandemic highlights the importance and vulnerability of regionalization and labor market interdependence in Southeast Asia. We intend to characterize the genetic variability of viral populations within the region to provide preliminary information for regional surveillance in the future. By analyzing 142 complete genomes from South East Asian (SEA) countries, we identified three central variants distinguished by nucleotide and amino acid changes.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제11권3호
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• pp.372-377
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• 2020

Infection risks of handling specimens associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) by public health laboratory services teams were assessed to scrutinize the potential hazards arising from the work procedures. Through risk assessments of all work sequences, laboratory equipment, and workplace environments, no aerosol-generating procedures could be identified except the procedures (mixing and transfer steps) inside biological safety cabinets. Appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) such as surgical masks, protective gowns, face shields/safety goggles, and disposable gloves, together with pertinent safety training, was provided for laboratory work. Proper disinfection and good hand hygiene practices could minimize the probability of SARS-CoV-2 infection at work. All residual risk levels of the potential hazards identified were within the acceptable level. Contamination by gloved hands was considered as a major exposure route for SARS-CoV-2 when compared with eye protection equipment. Competence in proper donning and doffing of PPE accompanied by hand washing techniques was of utmost importance for infection control.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.70-76
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• 2022

코로나바이러스감염증-19 (COVID-19)의 임상 양상은 무증상부터 급성 호흡곤란 증후군에 이르기까지 다양하다. 점액 다당류증(mucopolysaccharidosis) 2형은글라이코스아미노글라이칸(glycosaminoglycan)의 일종인 헤파란 황산염(heparan sulfate)과 더마탄 황산염(dermatan sulfate)의 분해를 촉매하는 효소 결핍에 의해 상기 물질이 리소좀(lysosome)에 축적되는 질환으로 전신 침범, 특히 호흡기침범을 특징으로 한다. 따라서 박테리아나 바이러스에 의한 호흡기 감염은 예후에 치명적일 수 있다. 현재 점액 다당류증 환자에서 제 2형 중증급성호흡기증후군 코로나 바이러스(SARS-CoV-2) 감염 후의 임상 양상에 대한 보고는 매우 드물고, 이에 점액 다당류증 2형으로 효소대체요법을 받고 있던 환자에서 상기 바이러스 감염 후의 임상 양상에 대해 보고하고 관련 문헌에 대해 고찰하고자 한다. 16세 남아로 가족간 전파로 코로나바이러스감염증이 발생하였다. 콧물, 기침, 가래 등 호흡기 증상이 관찰되었다. 발열이나 산소요구도 증가는 없었으며 심박수, 호흡수, 산소 포화도는 정상 범위였고 혈액검사결과에서 백혈구 감소증이 관찰되었다. 흉부 방사선 사진에서 폐렴 소견은 보이지 않았다. 보존적 치료와 격리만으로 증상이 호전되었다. 경미한 임상 양상의 원인으로 전구 물질의 축적으로 인해 바이러스에게 불리한 숙주의 세포 환경, 바이러스와의 상호작용에 관여하는 단백질을 암호화하는 유전자 발현의 특정방향으로의 변화가 제시되고 있다. 또한 점액 다당류증 환자에서 증가된 혈청 헤파란 황산염이 SARS-CoV-2 스파이크 단백질과 숙주 세포의 상호작용에 필수적인 세포 표면의 헤파란 황산염과 경쟁하여 SARS-CoV-2의 세포 내 침투로부터 보호한다는 가설도 있다. 향후 더 많은 사례를 통해 점액 다당류증 등의 리소좀 축적질환에서 코로나바이러스감염증의 발현 양상에 대한 연구가 필요하다.

• 대한간호학회지
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• 제51권5호
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• pp.511-524
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• 2021

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has emerged as a threat to human health and public safety. People of all ages are susceptible to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. However, the clinical manifestations of this infection differ by age. This study purposes to describe healthcare considerations for special populations, such as children, pregnant and lactating women, and older adults, who may have unique healthcare needs, in the pandemic situation. To realize the research purpose, we conducted a review of the practice guidelines of public documents and qualified studies that were published online/offline during a specific period. The review identified current knowledge on care for newborns, children in schools, pregnant women (from antenatal to postpartum care), and older adults suffering from high-risk conditions. Subsequently, we summarize vaccination guidance for special populations and, finally, discuss the issues currently affecting special populations. Therefore, this current knowledge on care for special populations helps nurses to provide accurate information on vaccinations aimed at preventing COVID-19 and protecting the masses from infection. Currently, the scarcity of information on COVID-19 variants necessitates further research on measures to reduce pandemic spread.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제44권12호
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• pp.861-878
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• 2021

The human genome contains many retroviral elements called human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs), resulting from the integration of retroviruses throughout evolution. HERVs once were considered inactive junk because they are not replication-competent, primarily localized in the heterochromatin, and silenced by methylation. But HERVs are now clearly shown to actively regulate gene expression in various physiological and pathological conditions such as developmental processes, immune regulation, cancers, autoimmune diseases, and neurological disorders. Recent studies report that HERVs are activated in patients suffering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the current pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) infection. In this review, we describe internal and external factors that influence HERV activities. We also present evidence showing the gene regulatory activity of HERV LTRs (long terminal repeats) in model organisms such as mice, rats, zebrafish, and invertebrate models of worms and flies. Finally, we discuss several molecular and cellular pathways involving various transcription factors and receptors, through which HERVs affect downstream cellular and physiological events such as epigenetic modifications, calcium influx, protein phosphorylation, and cytokine release. Understanding how HERVs participate in various physiological and pathological processes will help develop a strategy to generate effective therapeutic approaches targeting HERVs.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제18권3호
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• pp.31.1-31.8
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• 2020

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic. No specific therapeutic agents or vaccines for COVID-19 are available, though several antiviral drugs, are under investigation as treatment agents for COVID-19. The use of convalescent plasma transfusion that contain neutralizing antibodies for COVID-19 has become the major focus. This requires mass screening of populations for these antibodies. While several countries started reporting population based antibody rate, its simple point estimate may be misinterpreted without proper estimation of standard error and confidence intervals. In this paper, we review the importance of antibody studies and present the 95% confidence intervals COVID-19 antibody rate for the Korean population using two recently performed antibody tests in Korea. Due to the sparsity of data, the estimation of confidence interval is a big challenge. Thus, we consider several confidence intervals using Asymptotic, Exact and Bayesian estimation methods. In this article, we found that the Wald method gives the narrowest interval among all Asymptotic methods whereas mid p-value gives the narrowest among all Exact methods and Jeffrey's method gives the narrowest from Bayesian method. The most conservative 95% confidence interval estimation shows that as of 00:00 on September 15, 2020, at least 32,602 people were infected but not confirmed in Korea.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• 제22권9호
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• pp.149-158
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• 2022

The pandemic of Covid-19 (Coronavirus Disease 19) has devastated the world, affected millions of people, and disrupted the world economy. The cause of the Covid19 epidemic has been identified as a new variant known as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV2). It motives irritation of a small air sac referred to as the alveoli. The alveoli make up most of the tissue in the lungs and fill the sac with mucus. Most human beings with Covid19 usually do no longer improve pneumonia. However, chest x-rays of seriously unwell sufferers can be a useful device for medical doctors in diagnosing Covid19-both CT and X-ray exhibit usual patterns of frosted glass (GGO) and consolidation. The introduction of deep getting to know and brand new imaging helps radiologists and medical practitioners discover these unnatural patterns and pick out Covid19-infected chest x-rays. This venture makes use of a new deep studying structure proposed to diagnose Covid19 by the use of chest X-rays. The suggested model in this work aims to predict and forecast the patients at risk and identify the primary COVID-19 risk variables

• Animal Bioscience
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.43-52
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• 2023

Objective: This study aimed to examine the influence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on pregnancy in cytokeratin-18 (K18)-hACE2 transgenic mice. Methods: To determine the expression of hACE2 mRNA in the female reproductive tract of K18-hACE2 mice, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed using the ovary, oviduct, uterus, umbilical cord, and placenta. SARS-CoV-2 was inoculated intranasally (30 μL/mouse, 1×10⁴ TCID₅₀/mL) to plug-checked K18-hACE2 homozygous female mice at the pre-and post-implantation stages at 2.5 days post-coitum (dpc) and 15.5 dpc, respectively. The number of implantation sites was checked at 7.5 dpc, and the number of normally born pups was investigated at 20.5 dpc. Pregnancy outcomes, including implantation and childbirth, were confirmed by comparison with the non-infected group. Tissues of infected mice were collected at 7.5 dpc and 19.5 dpc to confirm the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The infection was identified by performing RT-PCR on the infected tissues and comparing them to the non-infected tissues. Results: hACE2 mRNA expression was confirmed in the female reproductive tract of the K18-hACE2 mice. Compared to the non-infected group, no significant difference in the number of implantation sites or normally born pups was found in the infected group. SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected in the lungs but not in the female reproductive system of infected K18-hACE2 mice. Conclusion: In K18-hACE2 mice, intranasal infection with SARS-CoV-2 did not induce implantation failure, preterm labor, or miscarriage. Although the viral infection was not detected in the uterus, placenta, or fetus, the infection of the lungs could induce problems in the reproductive system. However, lung infections were not related to pregnancy outcomes.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.4.1-4.18
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• 2023

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an inflammatory and infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus with a complex pathophysiology. While COVID-19 vaccines and boosters are available, treatment of the disease is primarily supportive and symptomatic. Several research have suggested the potential of herbal medicines as an adjunctive treatment for the disease. A popular herbal medicine approved in the Philippines for the treatment of acute respiratory disease is Vitex negundo L. In fact, the Department of Science and Technology of the Philippines has funded a clinical trial to establish its potential as an adjunctive treatment for COVID-19. Here, we utilized network pharmacology and molecular docking in determining pivotal targets of Vitex negundo compounds against COVID-19. The results showed that significant targets of Vitex negundo compounds in COVID-19 are CSB, SERPINE1, and PLG which code for cathepsin B, plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, and plasminogen, respectively. Molecular docking revealed that α-terpinyl acetate and geranyl acetate have good binding affinity in cathepsin B; 6,7,4-trimethoxyflavanone, 5,6,7,8,3',4',5'-heptamethoxyflavone, artemetin, demethylnobiletin, gardenin A, geranyl acetate in plasminogen; and 7,8,4-trimethoxyflavanone in plasminogen activator inhibitor-1. While the results are promising, these are bound to the limitations of computational methods and further experimentation are needed to completely establish the molecular mechanisms of Vitex negundo against COVID-19.