• Title/Summary/Keyword: Surveillance Concern

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Growth hormone treatment and risk of malig­nancy

  • Chae, Hyun-Wook;Kim, Duk-Hee;Kim, Ho-Seong
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.58 no.2
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    • pp.41-46
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    • 2015
  • Growth hormone (GH) treatment has been increasingly widely used for children with GH deficiencies as the survival rate of pediatric patients with malignancies has increased. Both GH and insulin-like growth factor-I have mitogenic and antiapoptotic activity, prompting concern that GH treatment may be associated with tumor development. In this review, the authors examined the relationship between GH treatment and cancer risk in terms of de novo malignancy, recurrence, and secondary neoplasm. Although the results from numerous studies were not entirely consistent, this review of various clinical and epidemiological studies demonstrated that there is no clear evidence of a causal relationship between GH treatment and tumor development. Nonetheless, a small number of studies reported that childhood cancer survivors who receive GH treatment have a small increased risk of developing de novo cancer and secondary malignant neoplasm. Therefore, regular follow-ups and careful examination for development of cancer should be required in children who receive GH treatment. Continued surveillance for an extended period is essential for monitoring long-term safety.

Seismic Qualification of the Air Conditioning Equipment for Nuclear Power Plant (원자력 발전소용 공조기에 대한 내진검증)

  • 이준근;김진영;정필중;정정훈
    • Journal of KSNVE
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    • v.9 no.3
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    • pp.535-543
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    • 1999
  • The seismic qualification of the structures has been great concern in our engineering society with an effort to reduce the severe damages from an earthquake. However, on the contrary to the importance of the seismic qualification, the whole procedures are used to rely on the advanced countries who require various expenses for the qualification, which leads to the heavy loss of the foreign currency. In this study, the nuclear air conditioning system produced by LG Cable are adopted for the seismic qualification based on the guideline of NUREG, IEEE and ASME code. In order to confirm the validity of the present study, the results from the Ellis & Watts are compared with the present results and, also, the seismic qualification procedures and results mentioned herein are approved by KOPEC, which is a naitonal surveillance institute for the construction of nuclear power plant. From these results, the author confirmed the validity of the present seismic qualification procedures and results, which might be usefully applied to the other kind of seismic qualification of equipments.

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Review on the necessity of boarder quarantine to prevent introduction of salmonid alphavirus into Korea (연어 알파바이러스 감염증의 국경검역 필요성에 대한 고찰)

  • Yu, Jinha;Cho, Jaebum
    • Journal of fish pathology
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    • v.31 no.2
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    • pp.57-70
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    • 2018
  • Infection with salmonid alphavirus (SAV) is a serious disease that mainly affects rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) reared in seawater or freshwater. SAV is prevalent in European countries including Norway that exports rainbow trout and Atlantic salmon to Korea. Consequently, SAV was listed as a disease notifiable to the OIE and many salmonid-producing countries either designate SAV as their notifiable disease or do research on the development of diagnosis and epidemiology to reduce the possibility of SAV infection. Unlike other salmonid-producing countries, SAV is not listed as a notifiable disease in Korea, thereby arousing concern that SAV will get into the country through the importation of live salmonids. Under the circumstance, Korea needs to have a legal basis to take much stricter follow-up measures, including listing SAV as a notifiable disease, establishing surveillance system based on OIE standards to declare Korea free from SAV, killing infected fish and conducting fallow system against affected farms.

Classification of Product Safety Management Target by RAP and Cluster Analysis for Consumer Safety (소비자안전을 위한 RAP 및 군집분석을 통한 제품안전 관리대상 유형분류 연구)

  • Suh, Jungdae
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.33 no.6
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    • pp.128-135
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    • 2018
  • Currently, the government selects products that are likely to cause harm to consumers as safety management targets and classifies them into three types: safety certification, safety confirmation, and supplier conformity verification. In addition, the government conducts safety surveys on products in circulation or accident products, and recalls products that are of great concern to consumer risks. In this paper, we have developed RAP (Risk Assessment method based on Probability), which is a probability based product risk assessment method, for the classification of safety management type of product and safety investigation, and have shown an application example. In this process, information is used for the CISS (Consumer Injury Surveillance System) of the Korean Consumer Agency. In addition, we apply the cluster analysis to classify the current supervised children products into three groups. Then, we confirm the effectiveness of RAP by comparing the result of RAP application, cluster analysis result and current safety management classification type. Also, we recognize the need to review the current safety management classification criteria for classifying products into three types.

Virulence, Resistance Genes, and Transformation Amongst Environmental Isolates of Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter spp.

  • Doughari, Hamuel James;Ndakidemi, Patrick Alois;Human, Izanne Susan;Benade, Spinney
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.25-33
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    • 2012
  • The association of verotoxic E. coli and Acinetobacter spp. with various antibiotic-resistant, diarrhogenic, and nosocomial infections has been a cause for concern worldwide. E. coli and A. haemolyticus isolated on a number of selective media were screened for virulence factors, antibiotic resistance, and transformation of resistance genes. Out of 69 E. coli isolates obtained, 25 (35.23%), 14 (20.30%), and 28 (40.58%) were positive for Vtx1&2, Vtx1, and Vtx2, respectively, 49 (71.015%) for extendedspectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs), 34 (49.28%) for serum resistance, 57 (82.61%) for cell surface hydrophobicity, 48 (69.57%) for gelatinase production, and 37 (53.62%) for hemolysin production. For the 14 A. haemolyticus isolates, only 2 (14.29%) in each case from all the samples investigated were positive for Vtx1, Vtx2 and Vtx1&2 respectively, 8 (57.14%) for ESBLs, 7 (50.00%) for serum resistance, 11 (78.57%) for cell surface hydrophobicity, 4 (28.57%) for gelatinase production, and 8 (57.14%) for hemolysin production. Although transformation occurred among the E. coli and Acinetobacter isolates (transformation frequency: $13.3{\times}10^{-7}-53.4^{-7}$), there was poor curing of the plasmid genes, a confirmation of the presence of stable antibiotic-resistant genes (DNA concentration between 42.7 and 123.8 ${\mu}g$) and intragenetic transfer of multidrug-resistant genes among the isolates. The isolates were potentially virulent and contained potentially transferable antibiotic resistance genes. Detection of virulence factors, antibiotic resistance genes, and transformation among these isolates is a very significant outcome that will influence approaches to proactive preventive and control measures and future investigations. However, continued surveillance for drug resistance among these bacteria and further investigation of the mechanism of action of their virulence factors are a necessity.

Begomoviruses and Their Emerging Threats in South Korea: A Review

  • Khan, Mohammad Sajid;Ji, Sang-He;Chun, Se-Chul
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.28 no.2
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    • pp.123-136
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    • 2012
  • Diseases caused by begomoviruses (family Geminiviridae, genus Begomovirus) constitute a serious constraint to tropical and sub-tropical agro-ecosystems worldwide. In recent years, they have also introduced in temperate regions of the world where they have great impact and are posing a serious threat to a variety of greenhouse crops. Begomoviral diseases can in extreme cases reduce yields to zero leading to catastrophic losses in agriculture. They are still evolving and pose a serious threat to sustainable agriculture across the world, particularly in tropics and sub-tropics. Till recently, there have been no records on the occurrence of begomoviral disease in South Korea, however, the etiology of other plant viral diseases are known since last century. The first begomovirus infected sample was collected from sweet potato plant in 2003 and since then there has been gradual increase in the begomoviral epidemics specially in tomato and sweet potato crops. So far, 48 begomovirus sequences originating from various plant species have been submitted in public sequence data base from different parts of the country. The rapid emergence of begomoviral epidemics might be with some of the factors like evolution of new variants of the viruses, appearance of efficient vectors, changing cropping systems, introduction of susceptible plant varieties, increase in global trade in agricultural products, intercontinental transportation networks, and changes in global climatic conditions. Another concern might be the emergence of a begomovirus complex and satellite DNA molecules. Thorough understanding of the pathosystems is needed for the designing of effective managements. Efforts should also be made towards the integration of the resistant genes for the development of transgenic plants specially tomato and sweet potato as they have been found to be widely infected in South Korea. There should be efficient surveillance for emergence or incursions of other begomoviruses and biotypes of whitefly. This review discusses the general characteristics of begomoviruses, transmission by their vector B. tabaci with an especial emphasis on the occurrence and distribution of begomoviruses in South Korea, and control measures that must be addressed in order to develop more sustainable management strategies.

The Abnormal Groundwater Changes as Potential Precursors of 2016 ML5.8 Gyeongju Earthquake in Korea (지하수위 이상 변동에 나타난 2016 ML5.8 경주 지진의 전조 가능성)

  • Lee, Hyun A;Hamm, Se-Yeong;Woo, Nam C.
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.393-400
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    • 2018
  • Despite some skeptical views on the possibility of earthquake prediction, observation and evaluation of precursory changes have been continued throughout the world. In Korea, the public concern on the earthquake prediction has been increased after 2016 $M_L5.8$ and 2017 $M_L5.4$ earthquakes occurred in Gyeongju and Pohang, the southeastern part in Korea, respectively. In this study, the abnormal increase of groundwater level was observed before the 2016 $M_L5.8$ Gyeongju earthquake in a borehole located in 52 km away from the epicenter. The well was installed in the Yangsan fault zone, and equipped for the earthquake surveillance. The abnormal change in the well would seem to be a precursor, considering the hydrogeological condition and the observations from previous studies. It is necessary to set up a specialized council to support and evaluate the earthquake prediction and related researches for the preparation of future earthquake hazards.

Identification of Reassortant Pandemic H1N1 Influenza Virus in Korean Pigs

  • Han, Jae-Yeon;Park, Sung-Jun;Kim, Hye-Kwon;Rho, Se-Mi;Nguyen, Giap Van;Song, Dae-Sub;Kang, Bo-Kyu;Moon, Hyung-Jun;Yeom, Min-Joo;Park, Bong-Kyun
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.22 no.5
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    • pp.699-707
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    • 2012
  • Since the 2009 pandemic human H1N1 influenza A virus emerged in April 2009, novel reassortant strains have been identified throughout the world. This paper describes the detection and isolation of reassortant strains associated with human pandemic influenza H1N1 and swine influenza H1N2 (SIV) viruses in swine populations in South Korea. Two influenza H1N2 reassortants were detected, and subtyped by PCR. The strains were isolated using Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, and genetically characterized by phylogenetic analysis for genetic diversity. They consisted of human, avian, and swine virus genes that were originated from the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus and a neuraminidase (NA) gene from H1N2 SIV previously isolated in North America. This identification of reassortment events in swine farms raises concern that reassortant strains may continuously circulate within swine populations, calling for the further study and surveillance of pandemic H1N1 among swine.

Social Issues Arising from the Establishment of a National DNA Database (신원확인 유전자정보은행 설립을 둘러싼 쟁점 연구)

  • Kim Byoung-Soo
    • Journal of Science and Technology Studies
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    • v.3 no.2 s.6
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    • pp.83-104
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    • 2003
  • The use of DNA in identification is growing. The criminal DNA databases are in operation in some countries including the UK, Austria, Germany, and US. The militaries and law enforcement agencies in these countries have used the DNA profile. In Korea, DNA identification has been used in determining paternity and in criminal cases since the middle 1990's, and in recent years law enforcement agencies are promoting a national DNA database for identification. The DNA database threatens our civil liberties because of its potential to be used as an instrument of surveillance. Expanding the database puts increasing numbers of people on a 'list of suspects'. Nevertheless, there is little social concern about using DNA database for identification. This paper reviews social issues related to the establishment of DNA database and investigates the features of DNA profile and DNA Database establishment project promoted law enforcement agencies.

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An Evaluation System For Freeway Traffic Data Processing Techniques (고속도로 교통자료 처리기법 통합평가 시스템 개발)

  • Oh, Dong-Wook;Oh, Cheol;NamKoong, Sung;Jeon, Se-Kil
    • The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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    • v.7 no.4
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    • pp.13-24
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    • 2008
  • Real-time traffic data are readily obtainable by traffic surveillance systems of intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Such data greatly support further applications in the field of traffic operations, planning, and safety. However, traffic data should be appropriately processed to fully exploit the benefits of data collection capability. Rather than developing individual data processing techniques, which is major concern of existing studies, this study proposes a novel methodology for evaluating data processing techniques in an integrated manner. Also, a tool for implementing the proposed methodology is developed. Users can extract useful and more reliable traffic data based upon their ultimate purpose of data usage by the evaluation tool developed in this study. Actual freeway traffic data are, as an example, fed into the evaluation tool, and results are discussed.

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