• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.11-20
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• 2021

On November 17, 2019, an infectious disease with symptoms of pneumonia, called the Wuhan virus at the time, occurred in Wuhan, China. Since then, the name has been changed to COVID-19, and the virus has spread all over the world, and the WHO has declared the highest warning level for infectious diseases, "Pandemic". The coronavirus has also caused great confusion in South Korea. This resulted in large infected people.The first confirmed cases occurred on January 20, 2020, and the number of infected patients is steadily increasing after experiencing several waves, and many corona confirmed cases are also occurring in 2021 after the year. As the whole world enters a pandemic, walls are created between people and people, companies and businesses, and countries and countries, and all growth stops or declines, including human relationships, domestic companies and industries, and foreign industries. As a result, society in general is experiencing a lot of stagnation. Among them, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are the basis of all growth in Korea, and youth who are trying to contribute to the national development by entering society, are struggling to find jobs. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, the difficulty of job hunting and the prospect of small and medium-sized businesses were not very good. In this situation, as the country's overall economic situation is poor, the vitality of SMEs has decreased a lot, the prospects are not good, so jobs are reduced, and there are many difficulties due to reluctance to hire new employees. In this study, with 2019 before the corona era and 2020 after the corona era, we compare SMEs before and after the corona era and overall job search and job search activities through average difference analysis, and whether they are affecting through correlation analysis. Through this, it suggests a direction to increase job search through corporate and government policies after raising the prospects of SMEs first.

• Journal of Korea Entertainment Industry Association
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.337-347
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• 2021

This study is a qualitative study conducted to provide basic data for therapists working in long-term care hospitals to improve their countermeasure strategies for new infectious diseases and improvement of the treatment room infection management system, and to help therapists understand their infection management work. Colaizzi's phenomenological research method was applied as the research method. Telephone interviews were conducted with nine occupational therapists and physical therapists working in nursing hospitals. The contents of the interview were recorded with the consent of the study subjects, and additional confirmation was received by email. The recorded content was analyzed after transcription, and the meaning and nature of the experience coping with COVID-19 were described. The content was organized into 6 themes, 17 main meaning and 49 meaning units. In accordance with the COVID-19 situation, the infection control system has been strengthened by reinforcing infection control education in nursing hospitals, practicing infection control, and supervising infection control outside business hours. It was found that the treatment environment was changed due to the restriction of treatment activities by practicing distancing in the treatment room, adjusting rest and meal times during working hours, and strengthening infection control. In addition, the therapist's role has been expanded and the paradigm of treatment has changed, such as considering the untact intervention, and they have experienced cohort quarantine, pre-tested for COVID-19, vaccinations, and side effects from COVID-19. However, due to the infection work, the therapist's work burden is increased, and the person is experiencing fear, depression, and work stress from the spread of COVID-19. They were also aware of the need for nursing hospital care personnel support, such as guaranteeing rest after vaccination and providing infection control tools and equipment. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for human and physical support for the development of infectious disease response strategy programs in nursing hospital treatment rooms and for infection control in nursing hospitals.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제26권3호
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• pp.641-654
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• 1996

In infectious disease, invasion of host tissue by bacteria or their products frequently induces a wide variety of inflammatory and immunopathologic reaction. Evidence indicates that cytokines are involved in the initiation and progression of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as periodontitis. Interleukin-6, which is a multifunctional cytokine, has important roles in acute and chronic inflammation and may also be implicated in bone resorption. Periodontal diseases are characterized by chronic inflammation of the periodontium with alveolar bone resoption. A principal driving force behind this response appears to lie in the immune system's response to bacteria. Many of the cell components which have been shown to function as virulence factors in gram-negative bacteria are associated with the bacterial surface. Of these, lipopolysaccharide has been characterized as one that mediates a number of biological activities which can lead to the destruction of host tissue. Non-steroidal antiinflammatory drug is used for reduce inflammation, and most of NSAIDs inhibit prostaglandine $E_2$ production, but it is shown that $PGE_2$ production is stimulated by IL-1 in recent study. So, the influence of other cytokines except $PGE_2$ on periodontium can not be avoided. Therefore, new antiinflammatory drug is needed. Rhizoma coptidis is used in oriental medicine for anti-inflammation and antiseptics. In this present study, we examined the IL-6 release in periodontal ligament cells treated with the lipopolysaccharide, and also the effect of rhizoma coptidis on cellular activity and IL-6 production of periodontal ligament cells. To evaluate the effect of rhizoma coptidis on cellular activity, the cells were seeded at a cell density of $1{\times}10^4$ cells/well in 24-well culture plates. After one day incubation, 1-6, 10-9 and 10-12 g/ml of rhizoma coptidis and 5, $10{\mu}g/ml$ of LPS were added to the each well and incubated for 1 and 2 days, respectively. Then, MTT assay were carried out. To evaluate the effect of rhizoma coptidis on IL-6 production, the cells were seeded at a cell density of $1.5{\times}10^4$ cells/well in 24-well culture plates. After one day incubation, 10-9 g/ml of rhizoma coptidis and 5, $10{\mu}g/ml$ of LPS were added to the each well and incubated for 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours. Then, amounts of IL-6 production is measured by IL-6 ELISA kit used. The results were as follows : 1. Rhizoma coptidisrbelow to ($10^{-6}g/ml$) significantly increaed cellular activity of periodontal ligament cells than control. 2. Rhizoma coptidist ($10^{-9}g/ml$) significantly increased cellular activity of LPS($5{\mu}g/ml$)-treated periodontal ligament cells than control. 3. LPS(5 and $10{\mu}g/ml$) significantly increased IL-6 production of periodontal ligament cells than control. 4. Rhizoma coptidis($10^{-9}g/ml$) decreased IL-6 production of LPS ($5{\mu}g/ml$)-treated periodontal.ligarnent cells than LPS only tested group. These findings suggest that stimulation of the IL-6 release of periodontal ligament cells by LPS may have a role in the progression of inflammation and alveolar bone resoption in periodontal disease, and that inhibition of the IL-6 release of cells and stimulation of cellular activity by rhizoma coptidis may help the periodontal regeneration.

• 한국환경농학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국환경농학회 2009년도 정기총회 및 국제심포지엄
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• pp.273-282
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• 2009

The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) disease group are fatal neurodegenerative disorders affecting a wide range of hosts. The group includes kuru and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) in humans, scrapie in sheep and goats and Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. The exact nature of the infectious agent involved in the transmission of these diseases remains controversial. However, a central event in their pathogenesis is the accumulation in infected tissues of an abnormal form of a host-encoded protein, the prion protein (PrP). Whereas the normal cellular protein is fully sensitive to protease ($PrP^{sen}$), the disease-associated prion protein ($PrP^d$) is only partly degraded ($PrP^{res}$), its amino-terminal end being removed. BSE was first reported in the mid-80s in the UK. Ten years later, a new form of human prion disease, variant CJD (vCJD) developed in the wake of the BSE epidemic, and there is now strong scientific evidence that vCJD was initiated by the exposure of humans to BSE-infected tissues, thus indicating a zoonotic disease. However, the ban on the feeding of animal-derived proteins to ruminants, and the apparent lack of vertical transmission of BSE, have led to a decline in the incidence of the disease within cattle herd and therefore, an assumed decreased risk for human contacting vCJD. The origin of the original case(s) of BSE still remains an enigma even though three hypotheses have been raised. Hypotheses are i) sheep- or goat-derived scrapie-infected tissues included in meat and bone meal fed to cattle, ii) a previously undetected sporadic or genetic bovine TSE contaminating cattle feed or iii) originating from a human TSE through animal feed contaminated with human remains. A host cellular membrane protein ($PrP^C$), which is abundant in central nervous system tissue, appear to be conformationally altered in the diseased host into a prion protein ($PrP^{Sc}$). This $PrP^{Sc}$ is detergent insoluble and partially protease-resistant ($PrP^{res}$). The term $PrP^{res}$ is normally used to describe the protein detected after protease treatment, in techniques such as Western immunoblotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay using fresh/frozen tissue. Immunohistochemistry may performed with formalin-fixed tissues. Also, clinical signs of the BSE are one of the major diagnostic indicators. Recently, atypical forms (known as H- and L-type) of BSE have appeared in several European countries, Japan, Canada and the United States. An unusual case was also reported in a miniature zebu. The atypical BSE fall into two groups based on the relative molecular mass (Mm) of the unglycosylated $PrP^{res}$ band relative to that of classical BSE, one of the higher Mm (H-type) and the other lower (L-type). Both types have been detected worldwide as rare cases in older animals, at a low prevalence consistent with the possibility of sporadic forms of prion diseases in cattle. This raises the unwelcome possibility that vCJD could increase in the human population. Now, active surveillance program against BSE is going on in Korea. In regional veterinary service lab, ELISA is applied to screen the BSE in slaughter and confirmatory tests by Western immunoblotting and immunohistochemisty are carried out if there are positive or suspect in the screening test. Also, the ruminant feed ban is rigorously enforced. Removal of specified risk materials such as brain and spinal cord from cattle is mandatory process at slaughter to prevent the infected material from entering the human food chain.

• The Korean Society of Law and Medicine
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.223-259
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• 2020

With COVID-19 spreading rapidly around the world, research and development issues on treatments and vaccines for the virus are of high interest. Among them, Remdesivir was the first to show noticeable therapeutic effects and began clinical trials, with each country authorizing the use of the drug through emergency approval. However, Gilead Co., Ltd., the developer of Remdesivir, received a lot of criticism from civic groups for submitting the application for the marketing authorization as an orphan drug. This is because when a new drug got a marketing authorization as an orphan drug could be granted an exclusive status for seven year. The long-term exclusive status of an orphan drug comes from the policy purpose of motivating pharmaceutical companies to develop treatment opportunities for patients suffering from rare diseases, which was not appropriate to apply to infectious disease treatments. This paper provides a review of the problems and improvement directions of the domestic system through comparative legal consideration against the United States, Europe and Japan for the statutes which give exclusive status to medicines. The domestic system has a fundamental problem that it does not have explicit provisions in the statute in the manner of granting exclusive status, and that it uses the review system to give it exclusive status indirectly. In addition, in the case of orphan drugs, the "Rare Diseases Management Act" and the "Regulations on Examination of Items Permission and Reporting of Drugs" provide overlapping review periods, and despite the relatively long monopoly period, there seems to be no check clause to recover exclusive status in the event of a change in circumstances. Given that biopharmaceuticals are difficult to obtain patents, the lack of such provisions is a pity of domestic legislation, although granting exclusive rights may be a great motivation to induce drug development. In the United States, given that the first biosimilar also has a one-year monopoly period, it can be interpreted that domestic legislation is quite strictly limited to granting exclusive status to biopharmaceuticals. The need for improvement of the domestic system will be recognized in that it could undermine local pharmaceutical companies' willingness to develop biopharmaceuticals in the future, and in that it is also necessary to harmonize international regulations. Taking advantage of the emergence of COVID-19 as an opportunity, we look again at the problems of the domestic system that grants exclusive rights to medicines and hope that an overall revision of the relevant legislation will be made to establish a unified legal basis.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제14권1호
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• pp.91-96
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• 2007

Purpose : This study was performed to evaluate a new rapid diagnostic kit (BIOLINE $RSV^{TM}$; Standard Diagnostics Inc., Yongin, Korea), a lateral-flow immunoassay, in the detection of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) from the nasopharyngeal aspirates (NPA) of children with lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in comparison with other diagnostic methods. Methods : Three hundred and nineteen NPAs were selected from a large pool of NPAs that had been obtained from children with LRTIs. All specimens had already been tested for RSV by culture and immunofluorescent (IF) test, and had been kept frozen. Tests with BIOLINE $RSV^{TM}$ were performed at least twice. All who conducted the experiments or interpreted the test results were blinded to the results of both culture and IF tests. Results : One hundred seven (97.3%) of 110 specimens that were positive for RSV by both culture and IF test, 29 (87.9%) of 33 that were positive by IF test only, 20 (76.9%) of 26 that were positive by culture only, and 140 (93.3%) of 150 that were negative by both methods were negative for RSV by BIOLINE $RSV^{TM}$. By combining the above results, the following 5 diagnostic values of BIOLINE $RSV^{TM}$ were determined in comparison with viral culture or IF test; sensitivity, 92.3% (156/169, 95% confidence interval [CI], 87.1-97.5%); specificity, 93.3% (140/150, 95% CI, 88.4-98.2%); positive predictive value, 94.0% (156/166, 95% CI, 89.5-98.5%); negative predictive value, 91.5% (140/143, 95% CI, 86.0-97.0%); and agreement, 95.9% (306/319, 95% CI, 92.1-99.7%), respectively. Conclusion : This study revealed that BIOLINE $RSV^{TM}$ demonstrated good sensitivity and specificity for the detection of RSV antigen from NPAs of children with LRTIs. Because of simple methods and quick results, this test may be useful for the diagnosis of RSV infection during the epidemic periods.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제8권2호
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• pp.175-180
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• 2001

Purpose : Recently in Korea since 1998, 2TU has been used instead of 5TU, which caused a confusion in interpreting tuberculin skin tests. We compared the tuberculin skin reaction to PPD(purified protein derivatives) 1TU, 2TU and 5TU. Methods : We studied tuberculin skin reaction to PPD 1TU, 2TU and 5TU on 92 infants who were vaccinated with percutaneous multiple puncture BCG vaccine(Tokyo 172 strain, Japan BCG Laboratory Co.) in neonatal period. Diameters of indurations were measured in millimeters 48~72 hours after the intradermal injection of PPD 1TU, 2TU and 5TU. Results : Among 92 infants(male : 56, female : 36), 1TU was used on 31 infants, 2TU on 31 infants and 5TU on 30 infants for tuberculin skin test. The mean diameter of induration for PPD 1TU, 2TU and 5TU were $5.7{\pm}4.2mm$, $7.1{\pm}3.7mm$, and $9.2{\pm}4.2mm$, respectively. There was no statistical difference in mean diameter of induration between 1TU and 2TU. However, when tested with 5TU, the diameter of induration was significantly larger than those of PPD 1TU and 2TU(P<0.05). Six subjects(19.4%) tested with 1TU, 9 subjects(29%) tested with 2TU and 16 subjects(53.3%) tested with 5TU had diameter of 10 mm or more. There was no statistical difference between 1TU and 2TU but for 5TU, number of subjects with diameter of 10 mm or more was significantly higher than PPD 1TU and 2TU(P<0.05). Number of subjects with induration diameter of 5 mm or more for 1TU, 2TU and 5TU was 19(61.3%), 22(71.0%) and 26(86.7%), respectively. However, there was no statistical difference. Conclusion : A new standard criteria for interpreting the tuberculin skin test with PPD 2TU should be established for clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.128-136
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• 2016

Purpose: This study was done to define clinical characteristics of fever without localizing signs (FWLS) in infants younger than 100 days of age with a goal of providing baseline data to establish a new diagnostic paradigm in the future. Methods: We reviewed medical records of 183 patients who admitted to Daegu Catholic University Medical Center for FWLS younger than 100 days of age from January 2013 to September 2015 retrospectively. Demographic, clinical features and laboratory findings were analyzed. Patients were divided into serious bacterial infection (SBI) and non-SBI groups, and then were compared between two groups to find risk factors for SBI. Results: Among 183 patients, lumbar puncture was performed in 98.9% and CSF pleocytosis was present in 35.9%. Sterile CSF pleocytosis was found in 43% of urinary tract infection (UTI) patients. None had concomitant bacterial meningitis in patients with UTI. As final diagnosis, febrile syndrome without source (25.7%) was most common. Among SBI, UTI was most common (99%). Birth weight, ESR, and CRP were significantly higher in SBI group compared to non-SBI group. Male sex (OR 4.93, 95% CI 1.60-15.24) and pyuria (OR 18.88, 95% CI 6.76-52.76) were identified as risk factors for SBI. Presence of sibling (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.11-0.83) was significantly lower in SBI group. Conclusions: Our results showed UTI was the most common SBI in young infants with FWLS. Though aseptic meningitis can be coexisting with UTI, lumbar puncture may not be necessary in all patients having UTI.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.154-162
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• 2011

Purpose : The aim of this study was to identify the clinical characteristics of lower respiratory tract infection due to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in young children and to provide information for an effective guideline for palivizumab administration in Korea. Methods : We reviewed medical charts of 167 patients under 3 years of age who were hospitalized in Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital for lower respiratory tract infection between January 2007 and February 2011. Diagnosis of the virus was made based on the multiplex real time polymerase chain reaction. Results : There were 113 patients who were infected by respiratory syncytial virus. 90 patients were term infants and 23 patients were preterm infants. No difference was shown between term and preterm infants except the days of admission which was 9.0${\pm}$6.0 days and 12.6${\pm}$21.0 days respectively. In the preterm group their mean age at the time of admission was 5.21${\pm}$4.9 months and the mean gestational age was 33.1${\pm}$4.3 weeks, and the mean birth weight was 2,152${\pm}$950 g. Only 4 patients were born under 28 weeks gestational age and were candidates for palivizumab administration. Conclusion : Most of the patients with severe RSV lower respiratory tract infection were term or near term infants who were not candidates for palivizumab prophylaxis. A nationwide study is needed to make a new risk stratified guideline for RSV prophylaxis for our country.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• 제16권1호
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• pp.31-39
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• 2009

Purpose : Neisseria meningitides is one of the most common causative pathogens of bacteremia and meningitis. Recently protein-conjugated vaccines have been developed and included in the routine vaccination schedule in a few countries. In Korea, carriage rates of N. meningitides among healthy adults have been reported. However, systematic data for childhood carriage rates are not available. This study was performed to evaluate the carriage rates of N. meningitides and the serotype distribution among healthy children attending day care centers. Methods : During the period of January through May 2005, nasopharyngeal swabs and culture were obtained from 904 children attending 13 different day care centers located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The Vitek NHI card was used to identify N. meningitides and the crgA gene was detected via polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Serotype determination was performed by agglutination test using N. meningitides antisera to serotypes A, B, C, D, 29E, W135, X, Y, and Z. PCR for detection of the org2 and saiD gene confirmed serotypes A, B, C, W135, and Y. Results : The mean age among 904 children was 4.5 years; 6.5% (59/904) were children <2 years old, 53.8% (486/904) were 2-5 years old, and 39.7% (359/904) were >5 years old; 52.0% (468/904) were male. N. meningitides was isolated from only 7 children attending 5 different day care centers and the overall carriage rate of N. meningitides was 0.8%. The detected serotypes of N. meningitides were serotype A (n=2), C (n=2), and Y (n=3). Conclusion : The carriage rate of N. meningitides among healthy children attending day care centers was very low in Korea and the detected serotypes were A, C, and Y.