• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.298-309
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• 2009

Purpose: To develop a web-based program on blood-borne infection control and to examine the effect of the newly developed program on perceived threat of diseases, knowledge, preventive health behaviors for blood-borne infections, and incidence rates of accidental needle sticks and other sharp object injuries in nurses. Methods: The program was developed through the processes of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The research design involved a nonequivalent control group for pretest and posttest experiments. The setting was a 745-bed general hospital located in Korea. Results: The program was designed and developed after consulting previous studies. After development of the program was completed, it was evaluated and revised by a panel of experts. The total score for perceived threat of diseases, knowledge, preventive health behaviors in the experimental group was significantly higher compared to the control group (p<.05). The incidence rates for needle sticks and other sharp object injuries in the experimental group were significantly lower compared to the control group (p<.05). Conclusion: Application of a Web-based, blood-borne infection control program is effective, and can be expanded to other healthcare workers who also have a high risk of blood-borne infections.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.45-49
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• 2002

Seasonal occurrence of strawberry anthracnose in greenhouses caused by Colletotrichum sp. was examined from 1997 through 1999 at three locations, Kyeongju, Goryeong, and Cheongdo in Kyungbuk province, Korea. Also some factors related to the anthracnose infection such as initial infection sites, inoculation methods, and soil nature were studied through in vitro and field experiments. The anthracnose disease begun to occur from 15 days after transplanting in early October, and continued but gradually decreased thereafter for 2 months until December, After transplanting, initial infection mainly occurred through the runner of which the tissue was more susceptible to the anthracnose than those of the leaf and petiole when the fungal mycelial disk was inoculated. Postplanting inoculation by irrigation with spore suspension was much more effective in inducing the anthracnose disease than preplanting soil mix. However without inoculation, no or little anthracnose occurred regardless of commercial, non-cultivated or diseased field soils when healthy seedlings were planted. This suggests that occurrence of strawberry anthracnose in fields may be related to contamination of plant propagules with the anthracnose pathogen.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.398-405
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• 2020

Nutrient manipulation is a promising strategy for controlling plant diseases in sustainable agriculture. Although many studies have investigated the relationships between certain elements and plant diseases, few have comprehensively explored how differing mineral nutrition levels might affect plant-fungal pathogen interactions, namely plant susceptibility and resistance. Here, we systematically explored the effects of the seven mineral elements that plants require in the greatest amounts for normal development on the susceptibility of soybean plants (Glycine max) to Fusarium oxysporum infection in controlled greenhouse conditions. Nitrogen (N) negligibly affected plant susceptibility to infection in the range 4 to 24 mM for both tested soybean cultivars. At relatively high concentrations, phosphorus (P) increased plant susceptibility to infection, which led to severely reduced shoot and root dry weights. Potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S), and iron (Fe) induced plant resistance to infection as their concentrations were increased. For K and Ca, moderate concentrations had a positive effect on plant resistance to the pathogen, whereas relatively high doses of either element adversely affected plant growth and promoted disease symptoms. Further experiments were conducted, assessing disease suppression by selected combinations of macro-elements and Fe at screened concentrations, i.e., K (9 mM) plus Fe (0.2 mM), and S (4 mM) plus Fe (0.2 mM). The disease index was significantly reduced by the combination of K plus Fe. In conclusion, this systematic investigation of soybean plant responses to F. oxysporum infection provides a solid basis for future environmentally-friendly choices for application in soybean disease control programs.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.168-173
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• 2002

Gastrointestinal infections kill over two million people each year, and pathogen contamination of livestock causes many cases of food poisoning. Two candidate intestinal probiotic strains, L. rhamnosus GR-1 and L. fermentum RC-14 were found to inhibit the growth of Salmonella typhi, Shigella dysenteriae, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, L. innocua, Enterococcus faecalis, and Bacteroides fragilis. In a series of mouse experiments, L. rhamosus GR-1 and L rhamnosus GG protected against S. typhimurium infection and translocation to the liver and spleen, reduced mortality and induced intestinal phagocytic and immunoglobulin responses. In a second series of experiments, the combination of L. rhamnosus GR-1 and L. fermentum RC-14 was superior to L. rhamnosus GG and placebo in protecting the mice from the lethal effect of salmonella. In summary, the use of combinations of probiotic lactobacilli as dietary supplements or foods could be considered for people at high risk of salmonella intestinal infection. Given the post-infection complications that can arise, such natural methods warrant further exploration especially given the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance and the lack of alternative measures available to many developing countries.

• Journal of The Korea Institute of Healthcare Architecture
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.37-44
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• 2023

Purpose: Currently, research on environmental conditions and finishing materials for medical facilities with proven antiviral performance is poor in Korea. Through this study, we have explored environmental characteristics and finishing materials that can be used to control cross-infection when constructing medical facilities. Methods: Experiments in overseas papers related to antiviral effects of environmental conditions, spatial compartments, and interior finishes have been analyzed. Results: The higher the temperature, the higher the humidity, and the higher the illuminance of sunlight, the lower the viability of the corona-virus. The proliferation of viruses was suppressed on the surface of the copper alloy. Materials such as brushed steel are the ones that maintain the strongest viability. Among the characteristics of the surface, survival and propagation power differ depending on whether it is porous or hydrophilic. In the case of infection ward actually operated in Italy, the presence of airborne viruses in contaminated and non-contaminated spaces differed significantly. Corona-virus has been identified in reachable parts such as door handles and medical shelves in quasi-contaminated spaces, which are spaces between contaminated and non-contaminated spaces, but the corona-virus has not been identified in cases of out-of-touch walls. Implications: It is necessary to evaluate the performance by testing the construction finishing materials of infection control facilities according to domestic conditions.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.438-444
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• 2007

Bacillus licheniformis N1 is a biological control agent to control gray mold diseases caused by Botrytis cinerea. Various formulations of B. licheniformis N1 were generated and evaluated for the activity to control strawberry gray mold. The wettable powder type formulation N1E was selected in pot experiments with remarkable disease control activity on both strawberry leaves and flowers. The N1E formulation contained 400 g of com starch, 50 ml of olive oil, and 50 g of sucrose per a liter of bacterial fermentation culture. Optimum dilution of N1E to appropriately control the strawberry gray mold appeared to be 100-fold dilution in plastic house artificial infection experiments. The significant reduction of symptom development in the senescent leaves was apparent by the treatment of N1E at 100-fold dilution when N1E was applied before Bo. cinerea inoculation, but not after the inoculation. Both artificial infection experiments in a plastic house and natural infection experiments in the farm plastic house under production conditions revealed that the disease severity of gray mold on strawberry leaves and flowers was significantly reduced by N1E treatment. The disease control value of N1E on strawberry leaves was 81% under production conditions, as compared with the 61.5% conferred by a chemical fungicide, iprodione. This study suggests that our previously generated formulation of B. licheniformis N1 will be effective to control strawberry gray mold by its preventive activity.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.367-372
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• 2013

Effects of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) on cellular protein expression are essential for viral pathogenesis. To characterize the cellular response to EBV infection, differential proteomes of gastric epithelial AGS cells were analyzed with two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) and liquid chromatography electrospray/ionization ion trap (LC-ESI-IT) mass spectrometry identification. Mass spectrometry identified 9 altered cellular proteins, including 5 up-regulated and 4 down-regulated proteins after EBV infection. Notably 2-DE analysis revealed that EBV infection induced increased expression of heat shock cognate 71 kDa protein, actin cytoplasmic 1, pyridoxine-5'-phosphate oxidase, caspase 9, and t-complex protein 1 subunit alpha. In addition, EBV infection considerably suppressed those cellular proteins of zinc finger protein 2, cyclin-dependent kinase 2, macrophage-capping protein, and growth/differentiation factor 11. Furthermore, the differential expressional levels of partial proteins (cyclin-dependent kinase 2 and caspase 9) were confirmed by Western blot analysis.Thus, this work effectively provided useful protein-related information to facilitate further investigation of the mechanisms underlying EBV infection and pathogenesis.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.325-332
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• 2007

Cell-mediated immune response (CMI) is a major immune protective mechanism against tuberculosis (TB) infection. Among several components involved in CMI, recent studies suggest that CD8+ T cells are important in controlling TB infection. In our previous report, we defined four Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) derived epiotpe peptides specific for HLA-A*0201-restricted CD8+ T cells. These four peptides are $PstAl_{75-83}$, $ThyA_{30-38}$, $RpoB_{127-135}$ and $85B_{15-23}$. In this study, these epitope peptides specific CD8+ T cell responses in tuberculous pleurisy were investigated using ex vivo $IFN-\gamma$ elispot assay and intracellular $IFN-\gamma$ staining method. As a result, we observed these epitope peptide specific CD8+ T cell responses are induced in all three patients with tuberculous pleurisy suggesting that CD8+ T cells are involved in protective immune mechanism against MTB infection in tuberculous pleurisy. However, the CMI to mitogens and MTB antigens from pleural fluids of patients with tuberculous pleurisy does not seem to correlate with that from peripheral blood, although the sample size is too small to make any conclusion. In sum, the MHC I restricted CD8+ T cell responses seem to be induced efficiently in the pleural fluids, at the site of TB infection, in which the CMI is actively induced. In addition, these experiments suggest that MHC I restricted CD8+ T cell mediated immune responses are also involved in protective mechanism against MTB infection in extra-pulmonary TB.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 1984

These experiments were conducted at field and green house in order to screen the resistant sesame varieties to Phytopthora nicotianae var. parasitica. and to ascertain the infection conditions of Corynespora cassiicola at different temperatures, soil moistures and leaf stages. Most of varieties studied in this experiment were very susceptible to the Phytopthora blight. Orotall, Suweon 7, Suweon 27 and Jochiweon were resistant to the disease. PI280795 and IS103 showed a tendency to be morderately resistant. The infected areas by Corynespora leaf blight were 15% in Kwangeui and 25% in Kimpo variety at high temperature condition of 3$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. The infection areas were 50% in Kwangeui and 70% in Kimpo variety at low temperature condition of 17$^{\circ}C$. These results indicate that the development of the leaf blight was highly increased at low temperature. The infection areas by the Corynespora were 55% in Kwangeui and 80% in Kimpo at wet soil moisture condition, and 10% in Kwageui and 15% in Kimpo at dry condition, respectively. The infection of the leaf blight was highly increased at 6 leaf stage and flowering date compared to at 10 and 20 leaf stages. The infection ratios were 20% at 6 leaf stage and 52.5% at flowering date, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.728-732
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• 2000

Propagation of Anagrapha falcifera nuclear polyhedrosis virus(AfNPV) was investigated using well-plates and split-flow air-lift bioreactors. In well-plate experiments, the effects of pH, cell density at a point of infection, serum concentration, DEAE-dextran, and lipid on virus propagation were all closely examined. The AfNPV titer in well-plates was optimal at pH 6.8 and $3{\times}10^6$ cells/$cm^2$. The virus titer was not dramatically affected when the fetal bovine serum concentration was reduced from 10% to 5%. The addition of cholesterol at AfNPV infection of Sf21 cells enhanced the virus titer, whereas the addition of DEAE-dextran did not improve the titer. The AfNPV titer ($3.8{\times}10^7$ $TCID_{50}/ml$) at optimized conditions for well-plate experiments was 2.5-fold higher than for the control. In bioreactor experiments, the AfNPV titer showed its maximum level at air flow rates of 20-40 ml/min. In a split-flow air-lift bioreactor, AfNPV titer ($2.3{\times}10^7\;TCID_{50}/ml$) was 1.5-fold higher than the control when the culture was at pH 6.8 and supplemented with 0.34 mM cholesterol.