• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 2021

One of the major problems in fish production is that parasite-induced episodes of disease can result in significant impacts to the health of stock, mortalities and, economical losses. Seabreams are economically important fish in both the capture fishery and aquaculture sectors in Oman and represent potential species for aquaculture. The current study set out to investigate infection of polyopisthocotylean monogeneans on the gills of wild goldlined seabream, Rhabdosargus sarba, caught from Musairah region in Oman. The prevalence, mean intensity and abundance of polyopisthocotyleans on 145 fish was found to be 52.41%, 5.65 and 3.04, respectively. Three species of microcotylid parasite were isolated, one being Atrispinum acarne while the remaining two species require further study to identify them. There was no significant difference in the infection rate between host sex, however, parasite burdens were higher on larger sized fish (p<0.05) and were found to favour the first gill arch (p< 0.05). The study found that the sample of Rhabdosargus sarba landed in the waters around Musairah are heavily infected, with a predominantly immature population of microcotylids. Further work is required to better understand the potential risk each species poses to the health of its host before a decision is made on the suitability of new candidate fish species for commercial aquaculture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.12
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• pp.1716-1721
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• 2021

Chikungunya fever is an arboviral disease caused by the Chikungunya virus (CHIKV). The disease has similar clinical manifestations with other acute febrile illnesses which complicates differential diagnosis in low-resource settings. We aimed to develop a rapid test for CHIKV detection based on the nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay technology. The system consists of a primer set that recognizes the E1 region of the CHIKV genome and test strips in an enclosed cassette which are used to detect amplicons labeled with FITC/biotin. Amplification of the viral genome was done using open-source PCR, a low-cost open-source thermal cycler. Assay performance was evaluated using a panel of RNA isolated from patients' blood with confirmed CHIKV (n = 8) and dengue virus (n = 20) infection. The open-source PCR-NALFIA platform had a limit of detection of 10 RNA copies/ml. The assay had a sensitivity and specificity of 100% (95% CI: 67.56% - 100%) and 100% (95% CI: 83.89% - 100%), respectively, compared to reference standards of any positive virus culture on C6/36 cell lines and/or qRT-PCR. Further evaluation of its performance using a larger sample size may provide important data to extend its usefulness, especially its utilization in the peripheral healthcare facilities with scarce resources and outbreak situations.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.257-264
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• 2022

Background: Chronic subscapularis tendon tear (SBT) is a degenerative disease and a common pathologic cause of shoulder pain. Several potential risk factors for chronic SBT have been reported. Although metabolic abnormalities are common risk factors for degenerative disease, their potential etiological roles in chronic SBT remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate potential risk factors for chronic SBT, with particular attention to metabolic factors. Methods: This study evaluated single shoulders of 939 rural residents. Each subject undertook a questionnaire, physical examinations, blood tests, and simple radiographs and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evaluations of bilateral shoulders. Subscapularis tendon integrity was determined by MRI findings based on the thickness of the involved tendons. The association strengths of demographic, physical, social, and radiologic factors, comorbidities, severity of rotator cuff tear (RCT), and serologic parameters for SBT were evaluated using logistic regression analyses. The significance of those analyses was set at p<0.05. Results: The prevalence of SBT was 32.2% (302/939). The prevalence of partial- and full-thickness tears was 23.5% (221/939) and 8.6% (81/939), respectively. The prevalence of isolated SBT was 20.2% (190/939), SBT combined with supraspinatus or infraspinatus tendon tear was 11.9% (112/939). In multivariable logistic regression analysis, dominant side involvement (p<0.001), manual labor (p=0.002), diabetes (p<0.001), metabolic syndrome (p<0.001), retraction degree of Patte tendon (p<0.001), posterosuperior RCT (p=0.010), and biceps tendon injury (p<0.001) were significantly associated with SBT. Conclusions: Metabolic syndrome is a potential risk factor for SBT, as are these factors: overuse activity, diabetes, posterosuperior RCT, increased retraction of posterosuperior rotator cuff tendon, and biceps tendon injury.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.1A
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• pp.155-162
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• 2006

This study presents the seismic risk assesment for an extradosed bridge with seismic isolators of lead rubber bearings(LRB). First, the seismic vulnerability of a structure and then the seismic hazard of the site are evaluated using earthquake data set and seismic hazard map in Korea, and then the seismic risk of the structure is assessed. The nonlinear seismic analyses are carried out to consider plastic hinges of bridge columns and nonlinear characteristics of soil foundation. The ductility demand is adopted to describe the nonlinear behavior of a column, and the moment-curvature curve of a column is assumed to be bilinear hysterestic. The fragility curves are represented as a log-normal distribution function for column damage, movement of superstructure, and cable yielding. And seismic hazard is estimated using the available seismic hazard maps. The results show that the effectiveness of the seismic isolators for the columns is more noticeable than those for cables and girders, in seismic isolated extradosed bridges under earthquakes.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.6.1-6.11
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• 2024

Background: Chronic bovine mastitis is linked to biofilm-producing Staphylococcus aureus (bp-Sa) or Staphylococcus coagulase-negative (bp-Scn). Objectives: Bp-Sa and bp-Scn were treated with intramammary preparations of either enrofloxacin HCl·2H₂O-dimethyl-sulfoxide-chitosan (enro-C/DMSO/chitosan) or enro-C alone. Their potential to inhibit and degrade biofilm formation in vitro was also assessed. Methods: Milk samples were obtained from the affected quarters in a herd. Phenotypical and genotypical identifications as biofilm-producing Staphylococcus species were carried out. Enro-C/DMSO/chitosan and enro-C alone were assessed to determine their in vitro efficacy in interfering with biofilm formation and their bactericidal effects. A prolonged eight-day treatment with a twice-daily intramammary insertion of 10 mL of enro-C/DMSO/chitosan or enro-C alone was set to evaluate the clinical and bacteriological cures on day 10 in 15 cows per group and the biofilm-inhibiting ability. Results: Fifty-seven percent of the isolates were identified as Staphylococcus spp., of which 50% were bp-Sa, 46% bp-Scn, and 4% Staphylococcus pseudintermedius. One hundred percent of the S. aureus isolated and 77% of Staphylococcus coagulase-negative were biofilm producers. In both groups, the icaA and icaD biofilm-producing genes were identified. The experimental preparation could inhibit biofilm formation, degrade mature biofilms, and have well-defined microbicidal effects on planktonic and biofilm bacteria. The respective clinical and bacteriological cure rates were 100% and 80% for enro-C/DMSO/chitosan and 41.7% and 25% for enro-C alone. Conclusions: Enro-C/DMSO/chitosan eliminates bp-Sa and bp-Scn from cases of chronic bovine mastitis.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.218-225
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• 2007

Purpose: Postoperative thyroid remnant radioablation therapy is necessary to reduce the recurrence and mortality rates as well as to prepare the patients for a proper long term surveillance of well-differentiated thyroid cancers. The radiation safety rules of the government require the patient to be isolated in a hospital if the expected radiation exposure to the family members would be greater than 5 mSv (500 mRem). The purpose was to measure the radiation received by the family members of patients who received large doses of NaI-131. Material and Methods: We have administered 12 therapy doses ranging from 3.70-5.55 GBq (100 to 150 mCi) to 11 patients, and released them immediately if they met the radiation safety criteria. Informed consent was obtained from the subjects prior to the therapy, and each of them agreed to follow written radiation safety instructions. TLD badges were used to measure the radiation dose received by the family members and the room adjacent to the patient's bed room during the first 72 hours. Results: The average dose received by the family members who spent the most time in the closest distance with the patients was 0.04 mSv with a range of 0.01-0.17 mSv. Even the highest dose was only about 3% of the limit set by the government. The average radiation dose to the outer wall of the patient's room was 0.15 mSv. Conclusion: It is concluded that I-131 ablation therapy can be administered to outpatients safely to thyroid cancer patients who meet the established radiation safety criteria and follow the instructions.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 1976

Sodium amylosulfate(SAS) has been reported to be an effective substance to inactivate the anti-bacterial activity of blood in blood culture media. The advantage of the use of SAS over sodium polyanethol sulfonate(SPS) is that it does not inhibit the growth of some bacteria! species which are known to be inhibited by SPS. As to S. typhi, SPS is reported to enhance the growth, however the effect of SAS on this organism is not known as yet. Using 43 strains of S. typhi, isolated from clinical materials, the authors tried to determine the effect of SAS on this organism. The methods used for this study were : the SPS and SAS paper disk I sensitivity test, tests on the growth in trypticase soy broth(TSB) with SPS and with SAS, and experimental blood culture in SPS and SAS incorporated TSB. The following results were obtined. 1). S. typhi strains with the turbidity of No. 0.5 tube of MacFarland nepherometer were inoculated onto Mueller-Hinton plate and 1mg disk of SPS and SAS were applied. After 24-hour incubation, none of the 43 strains showed inhibition zone by SPS disk, but all of them showed zones by SAS disk with a mean zone diameter of 9.5mm(Table 1). 2) Inocula consisting of one to 54 viable counts of 37 strains were inoculated into three different media; TSB with 0.05% SPS, TSB with 0.05% SAS and TSB alone. After 24-hour incubation the mean of the optical densities of each medium were 0.483, 0.482 and 0.459 respectively, showing that SAS does not inhibit the growth of S. typhi. Moreover it was shown that there was no correlation between the amount of inocula and growth(Table 2 and Fig. 1). 3). Each set of media in 5 ml amounts consisting of one tube of TSB with 0.05% SPS, one tube of TSB with 0.05% SAS and two tubes of TSB were inoculated with 8, 64. 640 and 6400 viable counts of bacteria. Then 0.5 ml of fresh normal blood was added to all tubes except for one tube of TSB. Macroscopic observation after 24 hour incubation showed a heavy growth in all tubes except for the tube of TSB plus blood, which showed only a light growth in the tube of the heaviest inoculum. This result clearly demonstrates that the growth of S. typhi is inhibited by some antibacterial activities of fresh blood, which are counter acted by SPS and SAS(Table 3). Between SPS and SAS, there was no significant difference found(Table 4 and Fig. 2). With all these results it can be postulated that the addition of SAS into a rountine blood culture media may raise the positivity of S. typhi isolation and shorten the incubation period.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.465-471
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• 2005

Ofloxacin has antimycobacterial activity that possibly contributes a pivotal role in the second-line drug regimens that are used for the treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. However, in some communities, the resistance rate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to this agent is surging. Therefore, a rapid and accurate method that can be used to determine the resistance of M tuberculosis to the ofloxacin can be very useful for effective treatment of the patients. As an effort to develop such a method, this study was set up to reveal general types of mutations that are related to ofloxacin resistance of M tuberculosis. From previous studies, it has been well known that ofloxacin resistance is associated with mutations in a gene encoding the gyrase A subunit protein. In this study, we obtained 43 ofloxacin-resistant and 50 ofloxacin-susceptible M tuberculosis clinical isolates from Masan National TB Hospital, and sequences of DNA fragment of 320 bp, region of gyrA corresponding to the ofloxacin resistance-determining region were analyzed. In brief, the results showed that a total of seven mutation types were found at gyrA. Theses mutations were all clustered within nucleotides 2574 to 2586 of the gyrA gene (codons 88 to 94). Codon 94 was the most frequently substituted site. Twenty-four of the 43 isolates had mutations at this position resulting in a total of five different types of amino acid changes $(Asp{\to}Ala,\;Asp{\to}Gly,\;Asp{\to}His,\;Asp{\to}Tyr,\;and\;Asp{\to}Asn)$. Five isolates contained a mutation at codon 90 resulting $Ala{\to}Val$ change. Four isolates had mutations at codon 91 causing a $Ser{\to}Pro$ change at this site. Two isolates contained a mutation at codon 88 and each of them resulted in different types of amino acid changes $(Gly{\to}Cys,\;Gly{\to}Ala)$. On the other hand, polymorphic site at codon 95 was found in both ofloxacin-resistant and ofloxacin-susceptible isolates. From these results, we concluded that the rate of mutations present in gyrA among ofloxacin-resistant M. tuberculosis in Korea is similar to the general rates of mutations found throughout the world. Subsequently, an oligonucleotide probe was designed based on the results of sequence analysis and was used to develop a dot blot hybridization assay system to determine ofloxacin-resistance of M tuberculosis. To evaluate this probe, dot-blot hybridization was carried out using other 57 clinical isolates, and the results showed that the dot-blot hybridization assay is good for detecting sequence alterations atgyrA gene.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.410-420
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• 2014

This research suggests a new tram signal priority model which determines signal timings and tram intersection waiting time using analytical method. This model can calculate the signal timings for Early Green and Green Extension among the active tram signal priority techniques by tram detection time of upstream detector. Moreover, it can determine the tram intersection waiting time that means tram intersection travel time delay from a vantage point of tram travel. Under the active tram signal priority condition, priority phases can bring additional green time from variable green time of non-priority phases. In this study, the signal timing and tram intersection waiting time calculation model was set up using analytical methods. In case studies using an isolated intersection, this study checks tram intersection waiting time ranged 12.7 to 29.4 seconds when variable green times of non-priority phases are 44 to 10 seconds under 120 seconds of cycle length.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.291-298
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• 2007

Olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus is one of the most important cultured fish in Korea, its farming has been negatively impacted by viral, bacterial and parasitic diseases. Streptococcal infection was considered as a serious problem because of significant economic losses in olive flounder farm industry. The development and evaluation of vaccine for protection against infection by this agent were required. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of ${\beta}$-hemolytic Streptococcus (S.) iniae vaccine on olive flounder Three hundreds of flounders (weight $119.8{\pm}20.7g$, body length $22.6{\pm}1.4cm$) were reared in 0.5 tons aquaria in land-marine tank system. Seawater was provided from the sea of Inchon in Korea, and water temperature was set to $22^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$ in the vaccination and challenge test, respectively. We used the formalin-inactivated ${\beta}$-hemolytic S. iniae (F2K) vaccine (M VAC INIAE; Kyoritsu seiyaku, Japan) originated in Japan. The vaccine was intraperitoneally administered to fish. Both of vaccinated group and control group were challenged with intraperitoneally injection by virulent S. iniae SI-36 isolates with $1.0{\times}10^7CFU/fish$ at 3 weeks after vaccination. Difference on mortality of control and vaccinated group (90.0 and 15.0%, 76.5 and 8.0% respectively) at two trials were found significant (p<0.05), and relative percent survival were 83.4% and 89.5%, respectively. The dead fishes were showed dark pigmentation of skin, abdominal extension, hemorrhagic ascites, and liver necrosis, and isolated the S. iniae strain from ascites, liver and kidney. We confirmed the safety and efficacy of ${\beta}$-hemolytic S. iniae vaccine by determinations of the optimal management condition and artificial challenge test in olive flounder.