• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.313-324
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• 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which causes serious respiratory illness such as pneumonia and lung failure, was first reported in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, China. The etiological agent of COVID-19 has been confirmed as a novel coronavirus, now known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which is most likely originated from zoonotic coronaviruses, like SARS-CoV, which emerged in 2002. Within a few months of the first report, SARS-CoV-2 had spread across China and worldwide, reaching a pandemic level. As COVID-19 has triggered enormous human casualties and serious economic loss posing global threat, an understanding of the ongoing situation and the development of strategies to contain the virus's spread are urgently needed. Currently, various diagnostic kits to test for COVID-19 are available and several repurposing therapeutics for COVID-19 have shown to be clinically effective. In addition, global institutions and companies have begun to develop vaccines for the prevention of COVID-19. Here, we review the current status of epidemiology, diagnosis, treatment, and vaccine development for COVID-19.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제64권5호
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• pp.239-246
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• 2021

Background: The consequences of severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2 on mother and fetus remain unknown due to a lack of robust evidence from prospective studies. Purpose: This study evaluated the effect of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on neonatal outcomes and the scope of vertical transmission. Methods: This ambispective observational study enrolled pregnant women with COVID-19 in North India from April 1 to August 31, 2020 to evaluate neonatal outcomes and the risk of vertical transmission. Results: A total of 44 neonates born to 41 COVID-19-positive mothers were evaluated. Among them, 28 patients (68.3%) (2 sets of twins) were delivered within 7 days of testing positive for COVID-19, 23 patients (56%) (2 sets of twins) were delivered by cesarean section; 13 newborns (29.5%) had low birth weight; 7 (15.9%) were preterm; and 6 (13.6%) required neonatal intensive care unit admission, reflecting an increased incidence of cesarean delivery and low birth weight but zero neonatal mortality. Samples of cord blood, placental membrane, vaginal fluid, amniotic fluid, peritoneal fluid (in case of cesarean section), and breast milk for COVID-19 reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tested negative in 22 prospective delivery cases. Nasopharyngeal swabs of 2 newborns tested positive for COVID-19: one at 24 hours and the other on day 4 of life. In the former case, biological samples were not collected as the mother was asymptomatic and her COVID-19 report was available postdelivery; hence, the source of infection remained inconclusive. In the latter case, all samples tested negative, ruling out the possibility of vertical transmission. All neonates remained asymptomatic on follow-up. Conclusion: COVID-19 does not have direct adverse effects on the fetus per se. The possibility of vertical transmission is almost negligible, although results from larger trials are required to confirm our findings.

• 산업융합연구
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.85-98
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• 2020

연구 목적: 본 연구는 COVID-19 비확진 간호대학생의 전염병 팬데믹 경험의 본질을 확인하기 위해 시행되었다. 연구 방법 : 2020년 4월 14일부터 2020년 4월 23일까지 간호대학생 8명을 대상으로 개별적인 심층 인터뷰를 통해 자료를 수집하고 Colaizzi의 현상학적 분석 방법론을 활용하여 자료를 분석하였다. 연구 결과 : 간호대학생의 전염병 팬데믹 경험을 통해 '걱정을 담고 있는 일상의 연속', 'COVID-19에 빼앗긴 일상 속 투쟁', '두려움과 기대심리에서의 갈등', '외로움과의 싸움', '변경된 수업운영 방침에 대한 혼란과 적응', '새로운 국면을 맞이하는 대처능력의 향상' 및 '성장의 발판'의 총 7가지 범주가 나타났다. 결론 : 간호대학생은 팬데믹 상황속에서 심리사회적으로 어려움을 겪었으나, 적응하며 긍정의 방향으로 이끌었다. 진로정체성을 점검해 보는 시간을 갖을 수 있는 계기로 삶고, 자신의 삶을 보완하려고 노력하였다. 추후 자가격리를 경험한 간호대학생의 경험과 COVID-19 장기화 상황에서의 간호대학생의 경험의 본질에 대한 연구를 제안한다.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제54권1호
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• pp.8-16
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• 2021

This article aims to introduce the inception and operation of the COVID-19 International Collaborative Research Project, the world's first coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) open data project for research, along with its dataset and research method, and to discuss relevant considerations for collaborative research using nationwide real-world data (RWD). COVID-19 has spread across the world since early 2020, becoming a serious global health threat to life, safety, and social and economic activities. However, insufficient RWD from patients was available to help clinicians efficiently diagnose and treat patients with COVID-19, or to provide necessary information to the government for policy-making. Countries that saw a rapid surge of infections had to focus on leveraging medical professionals to treat patients, and the circumstances made it even more difficult to promptly use COVID-19 RWD. Against this backdrop, the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) of Korea decided to open its COVID-19 RWD collected through Korea's universal health insurance program, under the title of the COVID-19 International Collaborative Research Project. The dataset, consisting of 476 508 claim statements from 234 427 patients (7590 confirmed cases) and 18 691 318 claim statements of the same patients for the previous 3 years, was established and hosted on HIRA's in-house server. Researchers who applied to participate in the project uploaded analysis code on the platform prepared by HIRA, and HIRA conducted the analysis and provided outcome values. As of November 2020, analyses have been completed for 129 research projects, which have been published or are in the process of being published in prestigious journals.

• 한국융합학회논문지
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• 제13권4호
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• pp.79-88
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• 2022

본 연구의 목적은 한국에서 COVID-19 유행 기간 동안 건강 행동 변화와 우울한 기분의 연관성을 평가하는 것이다. 한국 성인의 비례표본을 이용하여 인터넷 기반 단면 설문조사를 실시하였고, 로지스틱 회귀모형을 이용하여 연관성을 평가하였다. 그 결과, COVID-19 유행 기간 동안 앉거나 눕는 시간, 걷는 시간, 흡연 및 음주의 부정적인 변화는 우울한 기분으로의 변화와 관련이 있었다 [교차비(OR): 2.23(95% CI=1.77-2.81), 2.04(95% CI=1.63-2.56), 2.84(95% CI=1.51-5.36) 및 1.82(95% CI=1.26-2.63)]. COVID-19 유행기간 동안 긍정적인 건강 변화(활동 증가, 흡연 및 알코올 감소)를 증진시키기 위한 전략은 정신적 스트레스 경감에 도움이 될 수 있다.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제39권3호
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• pp.216-222
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• 2022

Background: This study assessed the psychological impact of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on university hospital nurses. It provides an assessment of mental health issues, including depression, anxiety, distress, and burnout of nurses dealing directly and indirectly with COVID-19. Methods: In a web-based, cross-sectional study, 111 nurses from Daegu Catholic University Hospital in Korea were enrolled from August 4 to August 9, 2020. Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Impact of Event Scale-Revised, and Maslach Burnout Inventory were used to assess the psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety, psychological distress, and burnout among the study participants. Results: Of 111 nurses, 35 (31.5%), nine (8.1%), 26 (23.4%), and 49 (44.1%) experienced depression, anxiety, distress, and burnout, respectively. Nurses who performed COVID-19-related tasks were more likely to have moderate depression (related vs. unrelated, 52.0% vs. 25.6%; p=0.037). There were no differences in anxiety, distress, and burnout between nurses with and without COVID-19-related tasks. More than 50% of the participants showed receptive and positive attitudes toward caring for COVID-19 patients. Conclusion: Nurses who performed COVID-19-related tasks had a higher risk of depression. There were no significant differences in anxiety, distress, and burnout between the two groups. Since nurses who perform COVID-19-related tasks are more prone to psychological distress, continued psychiatric interventions are required for infectious disease outbreaks with a high mortality rate for healthcare workers who are emotionally vulnerable.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.30-44
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• 2022

This research aims to identify and reveal the meaning of memes about COVID-19, and explain changes in meme content in regard to the information development of COVID-19 in Indonesia published by the mass media and online media. The data is sourced from memes that are shared on social media, especially WhatsApp groups in the period of January to June 2020. To reveal the meaning of memes, a semiotic analysis of Roland Barthes' model is used. Qualitative analysis is used to reveal the relationship between memes and the information development of COVID-19 in Indonesia. The results of the study show that meme content has shifted according to three stages of information development of COVID-19 in Indonesia published by the mass media and online media. When COVID-19 was not yet confirmed in Indonesia, meme content contained mostly humor that was not educative, moreover it seemed to underestimate the coronavirus. Meme content which is mostly humorous and pornographic occurred when COVID-19 was confirmed in Indonesia and during the lockdown policy. At last, as the government has begun to distribute social assistance, the meme content looks more critical. The results of this research emphasize the urgency of the mass media as a source of public information during the COVID-19 pandemic, become a reference for the community in making memes as a forum for expressing feelings and social criticism, and serve as a reference for the government to act and make the right decisions related to the pandemic that is endemic in their country.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• 제20권3호
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• pp.31.1-31.15
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• 2022

A pandemic of respiratory disease named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It is reported prostate cancer patients are susceptible to COVID-19 infection. To understand the possible causes of prostate cancer patients' increased vulnerability and mortality from COVID-19 infection, we focused on the two most important agents, transmembrane protease serine subtype 2 (TMPRSS2) and the C-X-C motif 10 (CXCL10). When SARS-CoV-2 binds to the host cell via S protein-angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 receptor interaction, TMPRSS2 contributes in the proteolytic cleavage of the S protein, allowing the viral and cellular membranes to fuse. CXCL10 is a cytokine found in elevated level in both COVID-19 and cancer-causing cytokine storm. We discovered that TMPRSS2 and CXCL10 are overexpressed in prostate cancer and COVID-19 using the UALCAN and GEPIA2 datasets. The functional importance of TMPRSS2 and CXCL10 in prostate cancer development was then determined by analyzing the frequency of genetic changes in their amino acid sequences using the cBioPortal online portal. Finally, we used the PANTHER database to examine the pathology of the targeted genes. We observed that TMPRSS2 and CXCL10, together with their often co-expressed genes, are important in the binding activity and immune responses in prostate cancer and COVID-19 infection, respectively. Finally, we found that TMPRSS2 and CXCL10 are two putative biomarkers responsible for the increased vulnerability and fatality of prostate cancer patients to COVID-19.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• 제22권9호
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• pp.195-207
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• 2022

COVID-19 has remained one of the most serious health crises in recent history, resulting in the tragic loss of lives and significant economic impacts on the entire world. The difficulty of controlling COVID-19 poses a threat to the global health sector. Considering that Artificial Intelligence (AI) has contributed to improving research methods and solving problems facing diverse fields of study, AI algorithms have also proven effective in disease detection and early diagnosis. Specifically, acoustic features offer a promising prospect for the early detection of respiratory diseases. Motivated by these observations, this study conceptualized a speech-based diagnostic model to aid in COVID-19 diagnosis. The proposed methodology uses speech signals from confirmed positive and negative cases of COVID-19 to extract features through the pre-trained Visual Geometry Group (VGG-16) model based on Mel spectrogram images. This is used in addition to the K-means algorithm that determines effective features, followed by a Genetic Algorithm-Support Vector Machine (GA-SVM) classifier to classify cases. The experimental findings indicate the proposed methodology's capability to classify COVID-19 and NOT COVID-19 of varying ages and speaking different languages, as demonstrated in the simulations. The proposed methodology depends on deep features, followed by the dimension reduction technique for features to detect COVID-19. As a result, it produces better and more consistent performance than handcrafted features used in previous studies.

• 한국융합학회논문지
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.85-91
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• 2022

손씻기는 COVID-19 방역 지침에서도 강조하듯이 거리두기 및 마스크와 더불어 가장 중요한 감염수칙이다. 본 연구는 COVID-19 이후 손씻기 실천율 향상을 위한 접근방법을 모색하고자 손씻기 실천에 영향을 주는 관련 요인을 확인하고자 하였다. 본 연구는 2020년도 지역사회건강조사 전국 원시자료를 활용하였다. 연구방법은 단변량 로지스틱 회귀분석을 시행하여 관련성을 탐색하였으며, 유의한 변수를 이용하여 다변량 로지스틱 회귀분석을 실시하였다. 분석결과 손씻기 실천율은 여성, 고학력, 저연령, 도시, 사무직, 실내에서 마스크를 착용할수록, 주기적 환기를 할수록, 주기적 소독을 할수록, 건강거리를 유지할수록 손씻기 실천율이 높은 것으로 확인했다. 본 연구 결과는 손씻기 실천율의 관련 요인을 파악함으로써 COVID-19 방역 지침의 기초자료로 활용할 수 있다.