• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.25 no.9
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• pp.463-472
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• 2022

In this study, a microbial risk assessment was performed for the bacteria Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which causes a foodborne illness following the consumption of Jeotgal, a fermented seafood in South Korea. The assessment comprised of six stages: product, market, home, consumption, dose-response, and risk. The initial contamination level (IC) was calculated based on the prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus in 90 Jeotgal samples. The kinetic behavior of V. parahaemolyticus was described using predictive models. The data on transportation conditions from manufacturer to market and home were collected through personal communication and from previous studies. Data for the Jeotgal consumption status were obtained, and an appropriate probability distribution was established. The simulation models responding to the scenario were analyzed using the @RISK program. The IC of V. parahaemolyticus was estimated using beta distribution [Beta (1, 91)]. The cell counts during transportation were estimated using Weibull and polynomial models [δ = 1 / (0.0718 - 0.0097 × T + 0.0005 × T²)], while the probability distributions for time and temperature were estimated using Pert, Weibull, Uniform, and LogLogistic distributions. Daily average consumption amounts were assessed using the Pareto distribution [0.60284,1.32,Risk Truncate(0,155)]. The results indicated that the risk of V. parahaemolyticus infection through Jeotgal consumption is low in South Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.9
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• pp.1162-1169
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• 2023

16S rRNA short amplicon sequencing-based microbiota profiling has been thought of and suggested as a feasible method to assess food safety. However, even if a comprehensive microbial information can be obtained by microbiota profiling, it would not be necessarily sufficient for all circumstances. To prove this, the feasibility of the most widely used V3-V4 amplicon sequencing method for food safety assessment was examined here. We designed a pathogen (Vibrio parahaemolyticus) contamination and/or V. parahaemolyticus-specific phage treatment model of raw oysters under improper storage temperature and monitored their microbial structure changes. The samples stored at refrigerator temperature (negative control, NC) and those that were stored at room temperature without any treatment (no treatment, NT) were included as control groups. The profiling results revealed that no statistical difference exists between the NT group and the pathogen spiked- and/or phage treated-groups even when the bacterial composition was compared at the possible lowest-rank taxa, family/genus level. In the beta-diversity analysis, all the samples except the NC group formed one distinct cluster. Notably, the samples with pathogen and/or phage addition did not form each cluster even though the enumerated number of V. parahaemolyticus in those samples were extremely different. These discrepant results indicate that the feasibility of 16S rRNA short amplicon sequencing should not be overgeneralized in microbiological safety assessment of food samples, such as raw oyster.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.6
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• pp.543-552
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• 2019

Fusarium asiaticum of the F. graminearum species complex causes head blight in small-grain cereals. The nivalenol (NIV) chemotypes of F. asiaticum is more common than the deoxynivalenol (DON) chemotypes of F. asiaticum or F. graminearum in Korea. To understand the prevalence of F. asiaticum-NIV in Korean cereals, we characterized the biological traits of 80 cereal isolates of F. asiaticum producing NIV or 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3-ADON), and 54 F. graminearum with 3-ADON or 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (15-ADON). There was no significant difference in mycelial growth between the chemotypes, but F. asiaticum isolates grew approximately 30% faster than F. graminearum isolates on potato dextrose agar. Sexual and asexual reproduction capacities differed markedly between the two species. Both chemotypes of F. graminearum (3-ADON and 15-ADON) produced significantly higher numbers of perithecia and conidia than F. asiaticum-NIV. The highest level of mycotoxins (sum of trichothecenes and zearalenone) was produced by F. graminearum-3-ADON on rice medium, followed by F. graminearum-15-ADON, F. asiaticum-3-ADON, and F. asiaticum-NIV. Zearalenone levels were correlated with DON levels in some chemotypes, but not with NIV levels. Disease assessment on barley, maize, rice, and wheat revealed that both F. asiaticum and F. graminearum isolates were virulent toward all crops tested. However, there is a tendency that virulence levels of F. asiaticum-NIV isolates on rice were higher than those of F. graminearum isolates. Taken together, the phenotypic traits found among the Korean F. asiaticum-NIV isolates suggest an association with their host adaptation to certain environments in Korea.

• 축산식품과학과 산업
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.53-56
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• 2016

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1517-1517
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• 2001

Cultural conditions during production of compost, using wheat straw and chicken litter as raw materials, will affect the microbial and biochemical characteristics, leading to a wide variation in mushroom productivity. Over the past 10 years, chemical and instrumental methods, suitable for assessing compost quality have been studied in Northern Ireland. In addition, the use of near subject of investigation over the past 4 years. Previous studies have shown that NIRS can be used fer assessing quality of dried and milled composts. The aim of the current investigation is to develop NIR calibrations for key quality parameters such as dry matter, pH, nitrogen, carbon, ash, microbial population and fibre factions during the two stages of production using spectra of fresh composts. Near infrared reflectance measurements of fresh composts prepared by 6 producers were made during a two-year period. Although the spectra of fresh composts were dominated by two moisture peaks at 1450 nm and 1940 nm, good calibrations for determining moisture content, conductivity, pH, nitrogen, carbon and fibre fractions were developed. The results of quality assessment during commercial production using the calibrations will be presented and discussed.

• Journal of Environmental Impact Assessment
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.617-623
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• 2010

It is the most important subject to figure out characteristics of the wastewater inflows of sewerage treatment plant(STP) when situation models are applied to operation of the biological processes and in the automatic control based on ICA(Instrument, Control and Automation). For the purposes, real-time influent monitoring method has been applied by using on-line monitoring equipments for the process optimization in conventional STP. Since, the influent of STP is consist of complex components such as, COD, BOD, TN, $NH_4$-N, $NO_3$-N, TP and $PO_4$-P. MRA2(Microbial Respiration Analyzer 2), which is capable of real-time analyzing of wastewater characteristics is used to overcome the limitations and defects of conventional online monitoring equipments in this study. Rapidity, accuracy and stability of developed MRA2 are evaluated and compared with the results from on-line monitoring equipments for seven months after installation in Full-scale STP.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.30 no.4 s.48
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• pp.549-553
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• 2004

ATP bioluminescence system and impedance system were evaluated with the objective of reducing the time for microbial analysis of cosmetics formulations from 72 to 24 h. The meaningful correlation (at least $95\%$) was achieved when emulsion were artificially contaminated with low levels of different organisms, including Pseudomonas aeruinosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Ralstonia mannitolilytica. The standard agar plate method, ATP bioluminescence and impedance method were used for in this study. Successful evaluation and validation of automated systems has enabled the introduction of ATP bioluminescence and impedance method into routine use within the microbiology laboratory. This has provided a rapid assessment of product quality, resulting in faster throughput and resource maximization.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.32 no.4 s.91
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• pp.316-323
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• 2006

This study was performed to assess the microbial contamination level for the processing of sandwich products in the middle of Gyeongnam province from December 2004 to January 2005. A total of 85 samples were collected from 5 sandwich shops. These samples were tested sanitary indication bacteria, such as aerobic Plate count(APC), coliforms, and Escherchia coli and pathogenic bacteria such as Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcus aureus. As a result of APC and coliform count ranged 0-4.59 $log_{10}$ CFU/(ml, g, 100 $cm^2$, hand) and 0-3.86 $log_{10}$ CFU/(ml, g, 100 $cm^2$, hand), respectively. Especially, the highly contaminated items for APC were confirmed 1.64-4.59 $log_{10}$ CFU/g to employees', raw materials and sandwich in all items. Escherichia coli was isolated from 5 samples. Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus were detected in 1 sample and 11 samples from utensil, raw materials and sandwiches, respectively. However, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella spp. were not detected in anywhere. For the production of safety sandwich, education of sanitation for employees, control of raw materials, and continuous monitoring for microorganism will be required.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.79-92
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• 1996

In a repository containing low-level waste, gas generation will occur principally by the coupled processes of metal corrosion and microbial degradation of cellulosic waste. This paper describes a mathematical model designed to address gas generation by these mechanisms and assesses the potential effects of gas generation on the performance of a radioactive waste repository. The metal corrosion model incorporates a three-stage process encompassing aerobic and anaerobic corrosion regimes ; the microbial degradation model simulates the activities of eight different microbial populations, which are maintained as functions both of pH and of the concentrations of particular chemical species. A prediction is made for gas concentrations and generation rates over an assessment period of ten thousand years in a radioactive waste repository. The results suggest that H$_2$will be the principal gas generated within the radioactive waste cavern.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.360-368
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• 2013

Recently interactive water fountains are gaining popularity in making public facilities in South Korea. The total number of interactive fountains is rapidly growing at the rate of >50% annually. In this study, we performed quantitative microbial risk assessment to estimate infection risks in children by Legionella spp. while playing in interactive fountains. The exposure dose for a given concentration of Legionella in water was calculated using water-aerosol partition rate of Legionella, exposure duration, inhalation rate, and deposit rate of aerosols in the lungs following inhalation. The dose was converted to infection risk by using the dose-response function developed for L. pneumophila. High weight and/or old children, i.e., 12-year children, running around in fountains were the highest risk group by showing >0.05 infection probability for fountain waters containing ${\geq}10^4$ CFU/L Legionella. The result supported the current guideline by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which permits use of water with < $10^3$ CFU/L Legionella cells for all purposes. However, the results still warrant further evaluation of the guideline to accommodate risks for children because the dose-response relationship in the model was developed for healthy adults. Further risk assessment studies need to be conducted by employing dose-response model for children who generally carries weaker immune system than adults.