• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.307-312
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• 1992

This paper considers a model for the spread of an infection of the type proposed by K.L. Cooke. The model involves a threshold for becoming infective that lead to functional rather than ordinary differential equations. Three type of result presented. In sections 3, and 4 the dependence of the solution on parameters in the model is studied numerically.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2009

Current therapies against ulcers caused by H. pylori infection consist of antibiotics, an acid reducer, and some clinical trials underway to develop a H. pylori vaccine. We develop a structured model with age-dependent mortality of peptic ulcers and H. pylori infection. Our main goal is to analyze our structured model mathematically and to compare it to our previously unstructured model to examine the disease transmission dynamics in terms of annual prevalence and annual incidence of the disease.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.692-695
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• 2006

Recently, there has been a constant barrage of worms over the Internet. Besides threatening network security, these worms create an enormous economic burden in terms of loss of productivity not only for the victim hosts, but also for other hosts, as these worms create unnecessary network traffic. Further, measures taken to filter these worms at the router level incur additional network delays because of the extra burden placed on the routers. To develop appropriate tools for thwarting the quick spread of worms, researchers are trying to understand the behavior of worm propagation with the aid of epidemiological models. In this study, we present an optimization model that takes into account infection and treatment costs. Using this model we can determine the level of treatment to be applied for a given rate of infection spread.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.64 no.10
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• pp.1454-1459
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• 2015

In this paper, a drug treatment protocol is proposed for an HIV infection model that explicitly includes the concentration of healthy T cells, infected T cells, and HIV. Since real parameters of HIV infection model differ from patient to patient, most drug treatment protocols are not able to achieve the treatment goal in the presence of modelling errors. Recently, based on the nonlinear robust control theory, a robust treatment protocol has been proposed that deals with parameter uncertainties. Although the developed scheme is inherently complex, it cannot be applied to the case where all parameters are unknown. In this paper, we propose a new drug treatment protocol that is much simpler than the previous one but can achieve the treatment goal even when all model parameters are unknown. The simulation results verify that the substantial improvement in the performance can be achieved by the proposed scheme.

• Nonlinear Functional Analysis and Applications
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.629-648
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• 2021

In this paper, we study a within-host mathematical model of HCV infection and carry out mathematical analysis of the global dynamics and bifurcations of the model in different parameter regimes. We explore the effect of reverse transcriptase inhibitors (RTI) on spontaneous HCV clearance. The model can produce all clinically observed patient profiles for realistic parameter values; it can also be used to estimate the efficacy and/or duration of treatment that will ensure permanent cure for a particular patient. From the results of the model, we infer possible measures that could be implemented in order to reduce the number of infected individuals.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.168-177
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• 2016

A forecast model for estimating the infection risk of bacterial canker caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae on kiwifruit leaves in Korea was developed using the generic infection model of Magarey et al. (2005). Two-way contingency table analysis was carried out to evaluate accuracy of forecast models including the model developed in this study for estimating the infection of bacterial canker on kiwifruit using the weather and disease data collected from three kiwifruit orchards at Seogwipo in 2015. All the tested models had more than 80% of probability of detection indicating that all the tested models could be effective to manage the disease. The model developed in this study showed the highest values in proportion of correct (51.1%), probability of detection (90.9%), and critical success index (47.6%). It indicated that the model developed in this study would be the best model for estimating the infection of bacterial wilt on kiwifruit leaves in Korea. The model developed in this study could be used for a part of decision support system for managing bacterial wilt on kiwifruit leaves and help growers to reduce the loss caused by the disease in Korea.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.568-574
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• 2010

This study introduced a chick embryos’ infection model to elucidate the pathogenesis mechanism of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which causes serious diseases in human after ingestion of P. aeruginosa-contaminated animal originated foods. The embryonic chick model is able to give a rapid and relatively inexpensive method to assess bacterial pathogenicity compared to embryos of other vertebrates. Embryos were infected with P. aeruginosa and elastase-deficient P. aeruginosa. After infection with P. aeruginosa cells, total bacterial cell numbers and gelatinase activities in the embryos were compared. Thereafter, precartilage condensation and chondrogenesis were assessed by peanut agglutinin (PNA) binding on day 3 and by Alcian blue staining for sulfated proteoglycans on day 5, respectively. P. aeruginosa significantly increased in embryos, resulting in abnormal limb development, whereas P. aeruginosa defective in elastase activity partly impaired proliferation. In addition, P. aeruginosa-infected chick embryos significantly stimulated the production of matrix metalloproteinases. Several analyses showed that elevated proteases suppressed the proliferation and survival of chondrogenic cells. The results show that this infection model was a useful assay to determine the virulence mechanism of P. aeruginosa in human after intake of microbiologically contaminated foods.

• Journal of Preventive Veterinary Medicine
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.214-220
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• 2019

Although canine brucellosis has been known to be an important re-emerging zoonosis, the pathophysiological mechanisms of Brucella canis infection remains clues to be solved. Different culture models, single and co-culture models, were constructed with canine epithelial cells, D17 and macrophage, DH82 to investigate the induction of immune responses in in vivo B. canis infection. Expression of genes related with induction of immune responses, Th1, Th2 and Th17, was compared in the two different models after the bacterial infection. In this study, expression of cytokine genes, IL-1β, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-23, and TNF-α was quantified in the DH82 at different time points using RT-qPCR in the two different culture systems after the infection. Cytokine genes related with Th1, IL-1β and TNF-α and Th17, IL-6 and IL-23 were expressed with time-dependent manners in the both systems (p<0.05). However, increase of Th2-related cytokine genes expression was not detectable in the both systems by comparison with control. The expression of Th1 and Th17 related cytokine genes was earlier in single cell culture than those in co-culture model (p<0.05). In general, amounts of the expressed genes were shown higher in single cell model than those in co-culture models. This study indicate that Th1 and Th17-associated immune responses are central to B. canis infection in dogs. In addition, it suggests a specific role of epithelial cells in the B. canis infection in vivo, which should resolved in the further study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of School Health
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2024

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to conduct a descriptive survey to examine the knowledge, infection prevention behaviors, and health beliefs regarding COVID-19 and to identify factors that influence infection prevention behaviors in elementary and middle school students based on the Health Belief Model. Methods: The study included 388 elementary and middle school students in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Jeonbuk provinces. Data were collected from September 1 to September 15, 2023. The questionnaire consisted of 10 questions about COVID-19 knowledge, 13 questions about infection prevention behaviors, and 15 questions about health beliefs. The collected data were subjected to multiple hierarchical regression analyses. The cronbach's α of infection prevention behaviors was 0.83, the KR-20 of COVID-19 related knowledge was 0.68, and the Cronbach's α of COVID-19 related health beliefs was 0. 78. Results: In Model 1, females showed higher levels of infection prevention behaviors than males (β=.14, p=.006) and middle school students showed lower levels of infection prevention behaviors than elementary school students (β=-.10, p=.037). In Model 2, among COVID-19-related health beliefs, barriers had a significant negative effect on infection prevention behaviors (β=-.20, p<.001) and cues to action had a significant positive effect on infection prevention behaviors (β=.14, p=.037), indicating that lower barriers and higher cues to action were associated with higher levels of infection prevention behaviors. Conclusion: The results showed that prevention behaviors were associated with lower barriers and higher cues to action among COVID-19 health beliefs. Elementary and middle school students in Korea spend a lot of time in groups at private academies or school, which are closed spaces with poor ventilation, making them vulnerable to new infectious diseases such as COVID-19. Unlike adults, infectious diseases can have serious impact on their mental and social health. Therefore, it is necessary for schools to provide accurate and timely health education about COVID-19 to increase cues to action for elementary and middle school students in order to improve their infection prevention behaviors.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1728-1733
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• 2015

This study was done to establish a mouse model for catheter-related biofilm infection suitable to bioluminescence imaging (BLI). Biofilm formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) Xen5 grown on catheter disks in vitro and in an implanted mouse model was real-time monitored during a 7-day study period using BLI. The numbers of integrated brightness (IB) and viable bacterial count (VBC) in the biofilm disks in vitro were highest at 24 h after inoculation; the IB of biofilm in vivo was increased until 24 h after implantation. A statistical correlation was observed between IB and VBC in vitro by linear regression analysis. The actual VBC value in vivo can be estimated accurately by IB without sacrifice. In addition, we monitored the change in white blood cells (WBCs) during infection. The number of WBCs on day 7 was significantly higher in the infection group than in the control group. This study indicates that BLI is a simple, fast, and sensitive method to measure catheter biofilm infection in mice.