• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.1 no.1
• /
• pp.46-52
• /
• 2001

The purpose of this study was to examine dental personnels' concern for health, their personal protection manner, and whether or not they were inoculated against hepatitis B and made an inquiry of patients about that. It's ultimately meant to serve as a basis for the preparation of an anti-infection guide for the protection of dental personnels against all sorts of infectious diseases. After a survey was conducted from March 29 through May 9, 2001, the following findings were obtained: (1) The dental personnel group that had worked for 5 to less than 7 years took health examination the most, with 71.4%, before joining the hospital, and 61.5% of those who had served for 9 years or more, the greatest percentage, took medical checkup after joining the hospital(P<0.05). (2) The largest percentage of being inoculated against the anti-B type hepatitis after employment was 71.4% of the dental personnels over 35, and 57.7% of those with 9-year or more working experiences. Therefore, their age and service term made a significant difference(P<0.05). (3) There was no significant gap in personal protection practices between the dental hygienists and nurse aids(P>0.05). But the use of safety goggles for treatment was not properly done, with just 1.48 on the basis of 3 points, whereas the use of mask was scored 2.40 and the use of gloves was scored 1.96. (4) After a narcotic was used once, the leftovers were wasted by 89.7% of the dental hygienists and 70.0% of the nurse aids. More dental hygienists wasted them(P<0.05). (5) For hand washing, antibiotic liquid soap was used by 19.3% of the dental hygienists and 10.0% of the nurse aids, which were both very low percentage. And just 37.2% of the dental hygienists utilized a disposable paper towel to dry their hands, and only 36.0% of the nurse aids used the same(P<0.05).

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.162-170
• /
• 2007

Purpose : While cases of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have increasingly been reported worldwide since it was first reported in the late 1980s, there have been few systemic studies on the pediatric population. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the planning of VRE prevention by investigating the prevalence, risk factors and transmission of VRE infection. Methods : We studied 230 patients under age 15 years who were isolated VRE between January 2001 and December 2006 retrospectively. The patients were classified into the intensive care unit (ICU) and the non-ICU groups. We reviewed the procedures before VRE detection as well as antibiotic sensitivity of detected organisms. Results : The number of VRE-isolation cases was higher in the ICU group than the non-ICU group. Instances of VRE-isolation were also more prevalent in patients who underwent operations or active procedures while taking 3rd-generation cephalosporins or glycopeptides. Almost all antibiotics except tetracycline were resistant to VRE. The proportion of 3rd-generation cephalosporin use was higher than those of any other antibiotics before VRE detection. Additionally, the use of 3rd-generation cephalosporins has increased annually, but that of glycopeptides had decreased in 2006. Also, the rates of VRE isolation have been increasing since 1998. Conclusion : VRE infection is increasing in pediatric population. Strict adherence to appropriate infection control guidelines for the prevention of VRE transmission in hospitals, and tracking of VRE colonization through active surveillance in high risk units are recommended.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.52-67
• /
• 1998

The investigative research on the mammalian milk purely consisted of the physiological quality of lactoferrin was conducted to reveal the antimicrobial ativity of specifically functional foods with antibiotic characteristics as a basic data in food manufacturing. Bovine lactoferrin were isolated from raw milk samples, and was digested with pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin. It was necessary then to separate and purify lactoferrin from bovine raw milk, and in order to analyze the antimicrobial activity of the enzyme-treated bovine lactoferrin in their required quantitative fraction. Afterwards Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was incubated in it. It was that investigated to enzyme-treated fractions molecular weight and the peptide fragment with antimicrobial effect. 1. The purity of enzyme-treated bovine lactoferrin(BLF) was tested by SDS-PAGE. As a results of 12% SDS-PAGE assay, pepsin-treated LF did not exhibited band until if reaches 14 KDa, while trypsin and chymotrypsin treated LF, known to contain the non-digestive lactoferrin exhibited band at a molecular weight of 33 KDa. 2. Bovine lactoferrin was sucessfully purified through the use of Sephadex G-50 Column. In order to assay LF through the Sephadex G-50 column chromatography, the digestive bovine lactoferrin (BLFs) was eluted with a linear gradient of 0.05% Tris-HCl. When the gel-filtration analysis, pepsin, trypsin and chymotrypsin treatments of BLF fragments was showed 2, 3, and 2 peak, respectively. The results of the HPLC analysis confirmed that had a non-digestive lactoferrin receptor, and trypsin and chymotrypsin treated BLFs has an antimicrobial effect. 3. To measure the strength of the antimicrobial effect of enzyme treated lactoferrin it was compared to the antimicrobial activity taking place at the incubated Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. This might explain the resistance of the microorganisms for peptide fragment. The pepsin-treated of bovine lactoferrin was markedly reduced by incubation of the cells. Trypsin-treated of BLF was similar to chymotrypsin-treated of BLF. However, trypsin and chymotrypsin treatments of BLFs were showed the antimicrobial effect until eight hours incubation for native bovine lactoferrin. Therefore the enzyme-treated lactoferrin have an antimicrobial effect even non-digestive lactoferrin. 4. The digestive bovine lactoferrin fragments assay was carried out by the use of Sephadex G-50 column chromatography and SDS-PAGE. The pepsin and chymotrypsin-treated fragments has a low molecular weight and trypsin-treated lactoferrin was only showed a band. It was described that characteristics of digestive protein. It appeared that there may be a relation between virulence and resistance to enzyme-treated BLF.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.47 no.2
• /
• pp.184-194
• /
• 1999

Backgrounds : The advent of penicillin has led to the marked reduction in the mortality from pneumococcal bacteremia, however, the mortality is still relatively high in this post-antibiotic era. Actually the prevalence of infection due to penicillin-resistant penumococci is increasing worldwide, and it is especially high in Korea due to irrelevant use of antibiotics. So, the high mortality of pneumococcal sepsis might be related to the emergence of penicillin-resistant strains, however, many other antibiotics, which eradicate pneumococci effectively, are available in these days. This has led us to suspect the role of penicillin-resistance in the high mortality rate. In this study, we evaluated the effect of penicillin resistance on the mortality of patients with penumococcal bacte remia. Methods: The study population consisted of 50 adult patients with penumococcal bacteremia who were admitted between Jan, 1990 and July, 1997. Medical records were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Most of the patients (96%) had underlying diseases. The most common local disease associated with pneumococcal bacteremia was pneumonia (42%), which was followed by spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (14%), cholangitis (10%), meningitis (8%), liver abscess (4%), pharyngotonsillitis (4%), sinusitis (2%) and cellulitis (2%). While the overall case-fatality rate in this study was 24%, it was higher when peumococcal bacteremia was associated with pneumonia (42%) or meningitis (50%). The rate of penicillin resistance was 40%, which was increased rapidly from 1991. The rate of penicillin resistance was significantly higher in patients with the history of recent antibiotics use and hospitalization within 3 months respectively. The clinical manifestations, that is, age, severity of underlying diseases, nosocomial infection, associated local diseases, and the presence of shock or acute renal failure were not statistically different between the patients with penicillin-resistant and -sensitive pneumococcal bacteremia. The mortality of patients infected with penicillin-resistant pneumococci was not statistically different from those with penicillin-sensitive pneumococcal bacteremia. Conclusion: Penicillin resistance is not associated with high mortality in adult patients with pneumococcal bacteremia. As the overall mortality is high, active penumococcal vaccination is recommended in patients with high risk of infection.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.49 no.5
• /
• pp.500-506
• /
• 2006

Purpose : We evaluated an outbreak of Serratia marcescens infections in 24 neonates in a neonatal intensive care unit(NICU). Methods : From January to August, 2004 a nosocomial outbreak of S. marcescens occurred in our NICU. We describe the clinical characteristics of the outbreak and analyse the risk factors for infections with S. marcescens. After the outbreak stopped, 7 isolates from blood were typed using rapid amplified polymorphic DNA analysis(RAPD). Results : S. marcescens was isolated from 24 neonates, 19 infected and 5 colonized. Seven out of nineteen neonates had bacteremia, 4 had ventilator associated pneumonia, 4 had purulent conjunctivitis, 2 had UTI, 1 had meningitis and 1 had a wound infection. Three neonates died due to S. marcescens infection, 2 of 3 had ventilator associated pneumonia, 1 had meningitis complicated with abscess. The mortality rate of S. marcescens infection was 15.8%. Factors associated with S. marcescens infections were previous antibiotic therapy, indwelling catheter and use of ventilators. The isolated strains were resistant to most antibiotics, but frequently sensitive to imipenem, bactrim and amikacin. RAPD typing results show that at least 3 epidemic strains were related with this outbreak. But one genotype was predominant type in this outbreak. The control measures were instituted and the outbreak stopped within 2 months. Conclusion : S. marcescens can cause rapidly spreading outbreaks associated with fatal infections in neonates. If S. marcescens is isolated from clinical specimens, meticulous infection control measures and epidemiologic investigations should be done at an early stage of the outbreak.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.75-80
• /
• 2015

Purpose: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a serious threat in critically ill pediatric patients. Data regarding Stenotrophomonas maltophilia VAP in pediatric population is limited. We evaluated the clinical data of S. maltophilia associated VAP in critically ill pediatric patients. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed in pediatric patients 18 years old or younger who developed S. maltophilia associated VAP at Samsung Medical Center, Seoul Korea from January 2008 to December 2012. Results: A total of 31 patients were identified S. maltophilia associated VAP. Median age was 8 months (range, 0.5 month to 16.6 years) and 13 patients were male (40.6%). Underlying illnesses were cardiologic diseases (n=11, 34.4%), hematologic oncologic malignancies (n=7, 25%), neurologic diseases (n=4, 12.5%), pulmonary diseases (n=3, 9.4%), and others (n=4, 12.5%). The median duration of ventilator use before S. maltophilia VAP diagnosis was 14 days (range, 4-256 days). Overall mortality at 30 days was 12.5% (4/32). Conclusions: S. maltophilia should be also considered as a possible pathogen for VAP in critically ill pediatric patients. Empiric antibiotic choice should include agents that are active against S. maltophilia in patients who are deteriorating on broad spectrum beta-lactam antimicrobial agents.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.1-15
• /
• 2005

Pathogens, insects and weeds have significantly reduced agricultural productivity. Thus, to increase the productivity, synthetic agricultural chemicals have been overused. However, these synthetic compounds that are different from natural products cannot be broken down easily in natural systems, causing the destruction of soil quality and agricultural environments and the gradually difficulty in continuous agriculture. Now agriculture is faced with the various problems of minimizing the damage in agricultural environments, securing the safety of human health, while simultaneously increasing agricultural productivity. Meanwhile, plants produce secondary metabolites to protect themselves from external invaders and to secure their region for survival. Plants infected with pathogens produce antibiotics phytoalexin; monocotyledonous plants produce flavonoids and diterpenoids phytoalexins, and dicotylodoneous plant, despite of infected pathogens, produce family-specific phytoalexin such as flavonoids in Leguminosae, indole derivatives in Cruciferae, sesquitepenoids in Solanaceae, coumarins in Umbelliferae, making the plant resistant to specific pathogen. Growth inhibitor or antifeedant substances to insects are terpenoids pyrethrin, azadirachtin, limonin, cedrelanoid, toosendanin and fraxinellone/dictamnine, and terpenoid-alkaloid mixed compounds sesquiterpene pyridine and norditerpenoids, and azepine-, amide-, loline-, stemofoline-, pyrrolizidine-alkaloids and so on. Also plants produces the substances to inhibit other plant growths to secure the regions for plant itself, which is including terpenoids essential oil and sesquiterpene lactone, and additionally, benzoxazinoids, glucosinolate, quassinoid, cyanogenic glycoside, saponin, sorgolennone, juglone and lots of other different of secondary metabolites. Hence, phytoalexin, an antibiotic compound produced by plants infected with pathogens, can be employed for pathogen control. Terpenoids and alkaloids inhibiting insect growth can be utilized for insect control. Allelochemicals, a compound released from a certain plant to hinder the growth of other plants for their survival, can be also used directly as a herbicides for weed control as well. Therefore, the use of the natural secondary metabolites for pest control might be one of the alternatives for environmentally friendly agriculture. However, the natural substances are destroyed easily causing low the pest-control efficacy, and also there is the limitation to producing the substances using plant cell. In the future, effects should be made to try to find the secondary metabolites with good pest-control effect and no harmful to human health. Also the biosynthetic pathways of secondary metabolites have to be elucidated continuously, and the metabolic engineering should be applied to improve transgenics having the resistance to specific pest.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.74-82
• /
• 2010

Purpose : The Dipslide culture test is a rapid method for diagnosis of urinary tract infection (UTI). The aim of this study is to determine the diagnostic availability of a urine Dipslide test for evaluation of UTI in febrile children. Methods : Urine specimens from 151 febrile infants were inoculated by a routine blood agar urine culture method and the Dipslide test at the same time. Following incubation for 16-24 hours, the results of the Dipslide test were read at the next visit. Both results of Dipslide and those of routine culture were compared. Results : The mean age of subjects was 15${\pm}$10.6 months. There were 150 infants (99.3%) who had fever with a mean duration of 2.6${\pm}$2.6 days. Thirty two infants (21.2%) were diagnosed as having UTI. Sensitivity and specificity of Uricult Trio CLED medium were 59.4% and 84.8%, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of Uricult Trio E. coli medium were 60.0% and 96.2%, respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient between results of Uricult Trio CLED medium and urine culture was 0.438 (P=0.01). Correlation between results of Uricult Trio E. coli medium and urine culture was 0.617 (P=0.01). Conclusion : The Dipslide test requires only 16-24 hours with high specificity in terms of UTI caused by E. coli without the problems associated with specimen delay. This test seems to be helpful for exclusion of UTI in febrile infants and it may reduce unnecessary hospitalization and antibiotic use. However, further studies are required before the product can be recommended as a routine diagnostic tool.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.43 no.2
• /
• pp.139-143
• /
• 2010

Background: Thoracic empyema remains a serious problem despite the availability of modern diagnostic methods and appropriate antibiotics. The condition presents in many different forms and stages that require different therapeutic options. Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has become increasingly popular for use in the treatment of empyema. Material and Method: From January 2005 to May 2009, VATS was performed in 36 patients with pleural empyema and for whom chest-tube drainage and antibiotic therapy had failed or the CT scan showed multiseptate disease. The perioperative clinical factors were analyzed for all the study patients. Result: All the patients underwent VATS, but it was necessary to convert to thoracotomy in one patient. The mean operation time was $90{\pm}38.5\;min$. For the operative evaluation, 11 patients were compatible with ATS stage III. The duration of chesttube insertion was $11.9{\pm}5.8$ (3~24) days. One patient did not improve and therefore this patient underwent additional open drainage. At discharge, costophrenic angle blunting was observed in 22 patients, pleural thickening was noted in 20 patients, both were noted in 17 patients and neither was noted in 11 patients. However, at follow-up, each of these changes was observed in 9, 7, 4 and 24 patients, respectively. All except one patient showed radiographic improvement. Conclusion: VATS is suitable for the treatment of early and fibrinopurulent thoracic empyema, and even in selected patients with stage III disease.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.111-125
• /
• 2009

Pitamin is a component of pine bark extract that exhibits antimicrobial activity and a variety of physiological effects. This study was earned out to investigate the effects of dietary pitamin as an organic livestock feed additive in broiler chickens. A 35 day trial was conducted to determine the influence of dietary premix containing 5% pitamin; investigated parameters included blood lipids, growth performance, quality characteristics of carcasses, and changes of caecal microbials in broiler chickens. Chickens were randomly divided into groups that were untreated (control), treated conventionally with antibiotics in the absence of premix, received 0.1 % or 0.2% premix containing 5% pitamin. Plasma lipids were lower in groups fed diets with pitamin premix (p<0.05). The body weight gain from broiler chickens fed with the diet containing 0.1% pitamin premix and antibiotics was similar, and was significantly higher than that of the other groups (p<0.05). The weight of breast muscle and thigh meat of carcasses was similar, and was higher than that of the control group (p<0.05). Abdominal fat and thymus index from chickens receiving either pitamin-supplemented premix was significantly lower and increased, respectively, that of the antibiotic and control groups (both p<0.05). The chickens on the pitamin premix-supplemented diets evidenced significantly higher caecal levels of Bifidobacterium species as compared with the chickens on the control diet (p<0.05). These results suggest that feeding a diet supplemented with a 0.1% premix containing 5.0% pitamin for 35 days maintains the production of broiler chickens at a level comparable to that obtained from the use of antibiotics.