• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.371-377
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• 2007

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are a family of microbial polyesters that can be produced by fermentation from renewable resources. PHAs can be used as completely biodegradable plastics or elastomers. In this paper, novel applications of PHAs in biosensor are described. A general platform technology was developed by using the substrate binding domain (SBD) of PHA depolymerase as a fusion partner to immobilize proteins of interest on PHA surface. It could be shown that the proteins fused to the SBD of PHA depolymerase could be specifically immobilized onto PHA film, PHA microbead, and microcontact printed PHA surface. We review the results obtained for monitoring the specific interaction between the SBO and PHA by using enhanced green fluorescent protein, red fluorescent protein, single chain antibody against hepatitis B virus preS2 surface protein and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus surface antigen as model proteins. Thus, this system can be efficiently used for studying protein-protein and possibly protein-biomolecule interactions for various biotechnological applications.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2022

This qualitative study analyzed various environmental factors and difficulties faced by school foodservices during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus group interviews were conducted by enrolling 12 nutrition teachers and nutritionists. Data collected were subsequently analyzed for changes implemented during the pandemic, in hygiene management, diet management, and distribution management of the school meal. The content and method of delivery of information related to diet guidance and school foodservice by related organizations were also examined. Results of the survey show that personal hygiene (such as maintaining student-to-student distance, checking students for a fever, and hand disinfection) was duly applied, installation of table coverings and distancing between school cafeteria seats were conducted, and mandatory mask-wearing to prevent droplet transmission was enforced. Depending on the COVID-19 situation, the number of students having school meals was limited per grade, and time-spaced meals were provided. To prevent infection, menus that required frequent hand contact were excluded from the meal plan. Overall, it was difficult to manage the meal plan due to frequent changes in tasks, such as the number of orders and meal expenses. These changes were communicated by nutrition teachers and nutritionists wherein the numbers of school meals were adjusted, depending on situations arising from each COVID-19 crisis stage. Furthermore, in some schools, either face-to-face nutrition counseling was stopped entirely, or nutrition education was conducted online. Parent participation was disallowed in the monitoring of school meals, and the prohibition on conversations inside the school cafeteria resulted in the absence of communication among students, nutrition teachers, and nutritionists. Additionally, confusion in meal management was caused by frequent changes in the school meal management guidelines provided by the Office of Education and the School Health Promotion Center in response to COVID-19. In anticipation of the emergence of a new virus or infectious diseases caused by mutations in the years to come, it is suggested that a holistic, well-thought-out response manual for safe meal operation needs to be established, in close collaboration with schools and school foodservice-related institutions.

• Journal of Internet Computing and Services
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.69-76
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• 2013

The incidence of globally infectious and pathogenic diseases such as H1N1 (swine flu) and Avian Influenza (AI) has recently increased. An infectious disease is a pathogen-caused disease, which can be passed from the infected person to the susceptible host. Pathogens of infectious diseases, which are bacillus, spirochaeta, rickettsia, virus, fungus, and parasite, etc., cause various symptoms such as respiratory disease, gastrointestinal disease, liver disease, and acute febrile illness. They can be spread through various means such as food, water, insect, breathing and contact with other persons. Recently, most countries around the world use a mathematical model to predict and prepare for the spread of infectious diseases. In a modern society, however, infectious diseases are spread in a fast and complicated manner because of rapid development of transportation (both ground and underground). Therefore, we do not have enough time to predict the fast spreading and complicated infectious diseases. Therefore, new system, which can prevent the spread of infectious diseases by predicting its pathway, needs to be developed. In this study, to solve this kind of problem, an integrated monitoring system, which can track and predict the pathway of infectious diseases for its realtime monitoring and control, is developed. This system is implemented based on the conventional mathematical model called by 'Susceptible-Infectious-Recovered (SIR) Model.' The proposed model has characteristics that both inter- and intra-city modes of transportation to express interpersonal contact (i.e., migration flow) are considered. They include the means of transportation such as bus, train, car and airplane. Also, modified real data according to the geographical characteristics of Korea are employed to reflect realistic circumstances of possible disease spreading in Korea. We can predict where and when vaccination needs to be performed by parameters control in this model. The simulation includes several assumptions and scenarios. Using the data of Statistics Korea, five major cities, which are assumed to have the most population migration have been chosen; Seoul, Incheon (Incheon International Airport), Gangneung, Pyeongchang and Wonju. It was assumed that the cities were connected in one network, and infectious disease was spread through denoted transportation methods only. In terms of traffic volume, daily traffic volume was obtained from Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS). In addition, the population of each city was acquired from Statistics Korea. Moreover, data on H1N1 (swine flu) were provided by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and air transport statistics were obtained from Aeronautical Information Portal System. As mentioned above, daily traffic volume, population statistics, H1N1 (swine flu) and air transport statistics data have been adjusted in consideration of the current conditions in Korea and several realistic assumptions and scenarios. Three scenarios (occurrence of H1N1 in Incheon International Airport, not-vaccinated in all cities and vaccinated in Seoul and Pyeongchang respectively) were simulated, and the number of days taken for the number of the infected to reach its peak and proportion of Infectious (I) were compared. According to the simulation, the number of days was the fastest in Seoul with 37 days and the slowest in Pyeongchang with 43 days when vaccination was not considered. In terms of the proportion of I, Seoul was the highest while Pyeongchang was the lowest. When they were vaccinated in Seoul, the number of days taken for the number of the infected to reach at its peak was the fastest in Seoul with 37 days and the slowest in Pyeongchang with 43 days. In terms of the proportion of I, Gangneung was the highest while Pyeongchang was the lowest. When they were vaccinated in Pyeongchang, the number of days was the fastest in Seoul with 37 days and the slowest in Pyeongchang with 43 days. In terms of the proportion of I, Gangneung was the highest while Pyeongchang was the lowest. Based on the results above, it has been confirmed that H1N1, upon the first occurrence, is proportionally spread by the traffic volume in each city. Because the infection pathway is different by the traffic volume in each city, therefore, it is possible to come up with a preventive measurement against infectious disease by tracking and predicting its pathway through the analysis of traffic volume.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 2009

Purpose: To analyze the clinical spectrum of posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) after liver transplantation in children. Methods: From January 1988 to June 2009, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 8 PTLD cases among 148 pediatric patients underwent liver transplantation. The age at transplantation, time of presentation after transplantation, clinical manifestations, histologic diagnosis, results of EBV (Epstein-Barr virus) assessments, managements and outcomes of PTLD were investigated. Results: The prevalence of PTLD in liver transplant pediatric recipients was 5.4% (8 of 148). The mean age of patients was 25.4${\pm}$21.3 months (range 10 to 67 months). Seven of 8 patients (87.5%) underwent liver transplantation before 1 year of age. The common clinical presentations were persistent fever (8 of 8, 100%) and bloody diarrhea (6 of 8, 75%). PTLD was diagnosed with gastrointestinal endoscopic biopsies in five patients and surgical biopsies in three. Histologic findings showed early lesion in three patients, polymorphic in two, and monomorphic in three. Burkitt lymphoma and lymphoblastic lymphoma were found in two of 3 monomorphic patients. Seven of 8 patients were found with EBV-positive. Eight patients were treated with dose reduction of immunosuppressants and infusion of ganciclovir. Rituximab was added to four patients. PTLD were successfully managed in all patients except one who died of sepsis during chemotherapy. Conclusion: Major risk factor of PTLD was to undergo liver transplantation before 1 year of age. Continuous monitoring for EBV viral load and gastrointestinal endoscopic biopsy may be useful to early detection of PTLD.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.409-422
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• 2022

Two dominant thrips in hot pepper (Capsicum annuum) cultivating in greenhouses are Frankliniella occidentalis and F. intonsa in Korea. This study investigated their overwintering physiology. These two thrips were freeze-susceptible and suppressed the body freezing temperature by lowering supercooling point (SCP) down to -15~-27℃. However, these SCPs varied among species and developmental stages. SCPs of F. occidentalis were -25.7±0.5℃ for adults, -17.2±0.3℃ for pupae, and -15.0±0.4℃ for larvae. SCPs of F. intonsa were -24.0±1.0℃ for adults, -27.0±0.5℃ for pupae, -17.2±0.8℃ for larvae. Cold injuries of both species occurred at low temperature treatments above SCPs. Thrips mortality increased as the treatment temperature decreased and its exposure period increased. F. occidentalis exhibited higher cold tolerance than F. intonsa. In both species, adults were more cold-tolerant than larvae. Two thrips species exhibited a rapid cold hardening because a pre-exposure to 0℃ for 2 h significantly enhanced the cold tolerance to a lethal cold temperature treatment at -10℃ for 2 h. In addition, a sequential exposure of the thrips to decreasing temperatures made them to be acclimated to low temperatures. To investigate the overwintering sites of the two species, winter monitoring of the thrips was performed at the greenhouses. During winter season (November~February), adults of the two species were not captured in outside of the greenhouses. However, F. occidentalis adults were captured to the traps and observed in weeds within the greenhouses. F. occidentalis adults were also emerged from soil samples obtained from the greenhouses during the winter season. F. intonsa adults did not come out from the soil samples at November and December, but emerged from the soil samples obtained after January. To determine the adult emergence due to diapause development, two thrips species were reared under different photoperiods. Adult development occurred in all photoperiod treatments in F. occidentalis, but did not in F. intonsa especially under short periods. Tomato spotted wilt virus, which is transmitted by these two species, was detected in the weeds infested by the thrips during the winter season. These results suggest that F. occidentalis develops on weeds in the greenhouses while F. intonsa undergoes a diapause in the soil during winter.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.235-245
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• 2008

Purpose: The HSV1-tk gene has been extensively studied as a type of reporter gene. In hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), only a small proportion of patients are eligible for surgical resection and there is limitation in palliative options. Therefore, there is a need for the development of new treatment modalities and gene therapy is a leading candidate. In the present study, we investigated the usefulness of substrate, 2'-fluoro-2'-deoxy-1-${\beta}$-D-arabino-furanosyi-5-[$^{124/125}I$]iodo- uracil ([$I^{124/125}I$]FIAU) as a non-invasive imaging agent for HSV1-tk gene therapy in hepatoma model using small animal PET. Material and Methods: With the Morris hepatoma MCA cell line and MCA-tk cell line which was transduced with the HSV1-tk gene, in vitro uptake and correlation study between [$^{125}I$]FIAU uptake according to increasing numeric count of percentage of MCA-tk cell were performed. The biodistribution data and small animal PET images with [$^{124}I$]FIAU were obtained with Balb/c-nude mice bearing both MCA and MCA-tk tumors. Results:, Specific accumulation of [[$^{125}I$]FIAU was observed in MCA-tk cells but uptake was low in MCA cells. Uptake in MCA-tk cells was 15 times higher than that of MCA cells at 480 min. [$^{125}I$]FIAU uptake was linearly correlated (R2 =0.964, p =0.01) with increasing percentage of MCA-tk numeric cell count. Biodistribution results showed that [$^{125}I$]FIAU was mainly excreted via the renal system in the early phase. Ratios of MCA-tk tumor to blood acting were 10, 41, and 641 at 1 h, 4 h, and 24 h post-injection, respectively. The maximum ratio of MCA-tk to MCA tumor was 192.7 at 24 h. Ratios of MCA-tk tumor to liver were 13.8, 66.8, and 588.3 at 1 h, 4 h, and 24 h, respectively. On small animal PET, [$^{124}I$]FIAU accumulated in substantial higher levels in MCA-tk tumor and liver than MCA tumor. Conclusion: FIAU shows selective accumulation to HSV1-tk expressing hepatoma cell tumors with minimal uptake in normal liver. Therefore, radiolabelled FIAU is expected to be a useful substrate for non-invasive imaging of HSV1-tk gene therapy and therapeutic response monitoring of HCC.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.218-227
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• 2006

Purpose: The HSV1-tk reporter gene system is the most widely used system because of its advantage that direct monitoring is possible without the introduction of a separate reporter gene in case of HSV1-tk suicide gene therapy. In this study, we investigate the usefulness of the reporter probe (substrate), $9-(4-[^{18}F]Fluoro-3-hydroxymethylbutyl)$guanine ($[^{18}F]FHBG$) for non-invasive reporter gene imaging using PET in HSV1-tk expressing hepatoma model. Materials and Methods: Radiolabeled FHBG was prepared in 8 steps from a commercially available triester. The labeling reaction was carried out by NCA nucleophilic substitution with $K[^{18}F]/K2.2.2.$ in acetonitrile using N2-monomethoxytrityl-9-14-(tosyl)-3-monomethoxytritylmethylbutyl]guanine as a precursor, followed by deprotection with 1 N HCl. Preliminary biological properties of the probe were evaluated with MCA cells and MCA-tk cells transduced with HSV1-tk reporter gene. In vitro uptake and release-out studies of $[^{18}F]FHBG$ were performed, and was analyzed correlation between $[^{18}F]FHBG$ uptake ratio according to increasing numeric count of MCA-tk cells and degree of gene expression. MicroPET scan image was obtained with MCA and MCA-tk tumor bearing Balb/c-nude mouse model. Results: $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was purified by reverse phase semi-HPLC system and collected at around 16-18 min. Radiothemical yield was about 20-25%) (corrected for decay), radiochemical purity was >95% and specific activity was around >55.5 $GBq/{\mu}\;mol$. Specific accumulation of $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was observed in HSV1-tk gene transduced MCA-tk cells but not in MCA cells, and consecutive 1 hour release-out results showed more than 86% of uptaked $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was retained inside of cells. The uptake of $[^{18}F]FHBG$ was showed a highly significant linear correlation ($R^2=0.995$) with increasing percentage of MCA-tk numeric cell count. In microPET scan images, remarkable difference of accumulation was observed for the two type of tumors. Conclusion: $[^{18}F]FHBG$ appears to be a useful as non-invasive PET imaging substrate in HSV1-tk expressing hepatoma model.