• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.79 no.4
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• pp.201-206
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• 2016

Active tuberculosis (TB) has a greater burden of TB bacilli than latent TB and acts as an infection source for contacts. Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is the state in which humans are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis without any clinical symptoms, radiological abnormality, or microbiological evidence. TB is transmissible by respiratory droplet nucleus of $1-5{\mu}m$ in diameter, containing 1-10 TB bacilli. TB transmission is affected by the strength of the infectious source, infectiousness of TB bacilli, immunoresistance of the host, environmental stresses, and biosocial factors. Infection controls to reduce TB transmission consist of managerial activities, administrative control, engineering control, environmental control, and personal protective equipment provision. However, diagnosis and treatment for LTBI as a national TB control program is an important strategy on the precondition that active TB is not missed. Therefore, more concrete evidences for LTBI management based on clinical and public perspectives are needed.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2011

Invasive Candida infections (ICI) have become the third most common cause of late-onset infection among premature infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Risk factors include birth weight less than 1,000 g, exposure to more than two antimicrobials, third generation cephalosporin exposure, parenteral nutrition including lipid emulsion, central venous catheter, and abdominal surgery. Candida colonization of the skin and gastrointestinal tract is an important first step in the pathogenesis of invasive disease. Strict infection control measures against the infection should be done in the NICU. The following practices are likely to contribute to reducing the rate of ICI: (1) restriction of broad-spectrum antibiotics, antacids and steroid; (2) introduction of early feeding and promoting breast milk. Fluconazole prophylaxis may be an effective control measure to prevent Candida colonization and infections in individual units with high incidence of fungal infection. In addition, there is a need of further data including the development of resistant strains and the effect on long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes of infants exposed to drugs before the initiation of routine application of antifungal prophylaxis in the NICU.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.277-284
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• 1987

Infection rate of the blister rust was investigated with special reference to the effect of eight stand factors at 221 plots selected from 131 Korean pine(Pinus koraiensis S. et Z,) stands, and the data were analyzed by multivariated statistical analysis. Environmental factors such as the density of Pedicularis spp., alternate hosts of the Korean pine blister rust, altitude, stand age, aspect, and pruning treatment, from the highest to the lowest were found to be related to the occurrence of the rust disease, Density of Pedicularis spp, was the most closely related to the' infection rate than any other factors, Especially, Pedicularis spp. growing naturally inside the pine stand had an important effect on the infection rate, but those on the outside more than 100m away had little effects, The higher the elevation, the heavier the infection rate. Infection was the heaviest at the altitudes of above 1,000m with high relative humidity and cool temperature. Infection rate was severe in young stands below 10 years old and had a reducing tendency as they mature. Stands above 16 years old were more resistant. The infection rate by the aspect of stand was higher at E- NE and W -SW exposures than at S-SE and N -NW. The infection rate at non-pruning stands was higher than at pruning stands with the lowest branch being at least 60cm high from the ground.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.375-380
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• 2002

Background: Sternal infection after open heart surgery is a serious complication associated with high rate of mortality. We reviewed the effect of improved operating room and intensive care unit un the sternal infection by analyzing the incidence and condition of that around the movement of operating room and intensive care unit in July 1997. Material and method: We reviewed a total of 453 patients. Group I contains 237 patients who underwent open heart surgery between January 1997 and December 1978 before we moved the intensive care unit and of operating room, and Group II contains 216 patients who underwent open heart surgery between January 2000 and July 2001 after we moved. We only included adult patients over age 15 who underwent cardiopulmonary bypass through median sternotomy and excluded the mortality cases except sternal infections in this study. Result: Sternal infection developed in 18 patients(8.0%) in Group I, and in only 1 patient(0.49%) in Group II. Emergency operation, cardiopulmonary bypass time, operation tilde, transfusion, tracheostomy, and reoperation are significantly associated with sternal infection among the known risk factors. The logistic regression analysis containing those six factors revealed that the movement of intensive care unit and operating roots is effective on the decreasing sternal infection(p=0.029, 95% confidence interval 0.011 ∼ 0.788). Conclusion: Although there have been studies on manly risk factors associated with the sternal infection after open heart surgery, we think that the improvement of operting room and intensive care unit is a method for decreasing the incidence of sternal infection.

• Journal of Korean Clinical Nursing Research
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.146-156
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• 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of empowerment, infection control organizational culture, and infection control awareness on infection control performance among nurses in long-term care hospitals. Methods: A descriptive survey study was conducted with 125 nurses as subjects who had been working for at least six months in four long-term care hospitals located in Busan metropolitan city and Gyeongsangnam-do Province. Data were collected from September 30 to October 28, 2021 and analyzed using t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficients, and stepwise multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 26.0. Results: The results showed that infection control performance had significant correlations with empowerment (r=.36, p<.001), infection control organizational culture (r=.51, p<.001), and infection control awareness (r=.75, p<.001). Multiple regression analysis for infection control performance revealed that the most powerful predictor was infection control awareness (β=.70, p<.001). Empowerment, infection control awareness and awareness of infection control guidelines explained approximately 60.0% of the variance in infection control performance. Conclusion: Findings indicated that various factors are related to the infection control performance among nurses in long-term care hospital. Based on the results of this study, further development and application of the programs to enhance empowerment and infection control awareness are needed in order to improve the infection control performance of nurses in long-term care hospitals.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.161-166
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• 2001

Purpose: Poor living conditions such as overcrowding and sharing a bed are reported to be significant risk factors for H. pylori infection throughout childhood. We investigated the prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in Korean athletes who are obliged to live together in training camps over six months a year. Methods: Blood sampling and surveying through questionnaire were performed on 440 regular high school students (228 boys and 212 girls) and 220 athletes (148 boys and 72 girls) of a physical education high school. We measured serum IgG Ab to H. pylori in order to compare the prevalence of H. pylori infection between normal adolescents and athletes. In addition, we conducted a nutritional analysis and questionnaire survey for socioeconomic status in order to compare other risk factors that might influence H. pylori infection between groups. Results: The prevalence (43.2%) of H. pylori infection in athletes was higher than that (22.7%) in the controls. No significant differences in the nutritional factors or socioeconomic status, such as Hollingshead index, type of house, and crowding index, were found between the groups. Multivariate analysis showed that crowding and the difference in school type were the significant predictors of H. pylori seropositivity after controlling for dietary and socioeconomic factors. Conclusion: Living together in training camps might be a significant risk factor for H. pylori infection in athletes.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.324-329
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• 2015

The primary aim of this study was to investigate biosecurity practices in pig farms and to determine the major risk factors associated with PCV2 infection for a sampled swine population in Korea. To this end, we analyzed data from a cross-sectional study of 296 farrow-to-finish farms, which was conducted between March and September 2014 to explore the prevalence of swine disease at farm level. Face-to-face interviews by on-site visit of trained veterinarians were conducted with the farm owners or managers using a standardized questionnaires with information about basic demographical data and management practices. Farms were classified as negative or positive through the use of infection profiles that combined data on serological testing including PCR antigen test result, antibody titer and sero-conversion pattern at each age category taking into account vaccination status. Data were analyzed using multivariate ordinal logistic regression. Results from this study indicated that biosecurity level of the farms was considered not good given low compliance of the biosecurity programs and facilities in the farm: off-site removal of dead stocks (7%), off-site location of storage facility for incoming feeds (12.6%), off-site pick-up location for finishers (19.3%), restrictions on feed supplier vehicles for farm entrance (19.6%), restriction of finisher trucks entering the farm (22.4%), and restriction on manure disposal trucks entering the farm (26.4%). In the final model (n = 255), allowance of finisher truck driver to the pig unit had increased risk of infection (OR = 2.4, 95% CI 1.22-4.67) whereas farms with a sign forbidding the entrance had decreased risk of infection (OR = 0.19, 95% CI 0.10-0.58). Further comprehensive research with larger sample size is required to better understand the multifactorial characteristic that some predisposing risk factors that were not available in this study. To the best knowledge of the authors, this was the first study to use empirical data to report risk factors associated with PCV2 infection in the Korean pig farms. Results from the current study could be used to decide optimal biosecurity measures to reduce the impact of PCV2 infection to farmers and policy makers.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.77-84
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• 2007

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is an important bacterial pathogen that causes chronic gastritisand is associated with gastroduodenal ulcer disease, adenocarcinoma of the distal stomach, and gastricH. pylori infection associated with host agehave not been well-defined in human. To evaluate the difference in host susceptibility to infection in relationto age of acquisition of H. pylori infection, we designed an experiment involving inoculation of H. pyloriATC 43504 at different ages of Mongolian gerbils. H. pylori was inoculated at 5 weeks and 18 monthsof age, as representatives of early and late infection, respectively. Animals were sacrificed 1 week and 4weeks after challenge, and the stomach was removed from each animal for bacterial culture, histologicalexamination, and polymerase chain reaction test. 5 week-old gerbils revealed infection andmaintained continuously its infection until 4 weeks. However, old gerbils did not maintained H. pyloriinfection. These data suggest the insusceptibility of H. pylori in old Mongolian gerbils and the importanceof animal ages for successful animal experimental infection. Also, the results demonstrated that earlyinfection of H. pylori increases its host susceptibility, as compared to the case with later infection, possiblybecause of differences in host gastric mucosal factors and imunologic responses.

• Proceedings of the Korea Inteligent Information System Society Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.289-299
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• 2000

This study provides an application of datamining approach to CQI(Continuous Quality Improvement) using the discharge summary. First, we found a process variation in hospital infection rate by SPC (Statistical Process Control) technique. Second, importance of factors influencing hospital infection was inferred through the decision tree analysis which is a classification method in data-mining approach. The most important factor was surgery followed by comorbidity and length of operation. Comorbidity was further divided into age and principal diagnosis and the length of operation was further divided into age and chief complaint. 24 rules of hospital infection were generated by the decision tree analysis. Of these, 9 rules with predictive prover greater than 50% were suggested as guidelines for hospital infection control. The optimum range of target group in hospital infection control were Identified through the information gain summary. Association rule, which is another kind of datamining method, was performed to analyze the relationship between principal diagnosis and comorbidity. The confidence score, which measures the decree of association, between urinary tract infection and causal bacillus was the highest, followed by the score between postoperative wound disruption find postoperative wound infection. This study demonstrated how datamining approach could be used to provide information to support prospective surveillance of hospital infection. The datamining technique can also be applied to various areas fur CQI using other hospital databases.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.1204-1214
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• 2006

Purpose: This retrospective study was done to evaluate the status of nosocomial urinary tract infections and to determine the risk factors and transmission route of causal IRPA through molecular epidemiology. Method: Two hundred ninety-nine of 423 patients admitted to the internal medicine and surgery ICU at a university hospital incity B had a positiveurine culture. Twelve of the 299 patients who had a urinary tract infection had IRPA strains. The data was collected from November 1, 2004 to January 31, 2005. The following results were obtained after the data was analyzed using percentile and UPGMA. Result: The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infections in the ICU was 10.8%. Therewere 16.8 cases of infection based on the period of hospitalization. There were 16.9 cases of infection based on the use of a foley catheter. The rate of nosocomial urinary tract infection in the ICU and urinary tract infections related to IRPA were higher in patients with the following characteristics: men, old age, admission through the emergency room, longer than seven days admission, severity of admitting causes, disturbance of consciousness, hydration less than 300cc in 24hours, a long course of antibiotics, a long period of foley catheterization and perineal care. Most of the microorganisms that caused the urinary tract infection were gram negative bacilli, among which P. aeruginosa was found in 70 patients (18.5%) and IRPA in 12 (4.0%). Among the 12 IRPA strains that were tested with PFGE, eight showed a dice coefficient higher than 80%, suggesting a genetic relationship. They were related with the period of hospitalization in the same ICU. These patients all received direct care for a urinary tract infection. Conclusion: Through these results, IRPA can be consideredas a contributing factors to urinary tract infections thus, active preventative measures are needed by the medical staff.