• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.47 no.3
• /
• pp.200-208
• /
• 2011

Most problematic antibiotic resistance mechanism for MLS (macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramn B) antibiotics encountered in clinical practice is mono- or dimethylation of specific adenine residue at 2058 (E. coli coordinate) of 23S rRNA which is performed by Erm (erythromycin ribosome resistance) protein through which bacterial ribosomes reduce the affinity to the antibiotics and become resistant to them. ErmSF is one of the four gene products produced by Streptomyces fradiae to be resistant to its own antibiotic, tylosin. Unlike other Erm proteins, ErmSF harbors idiosyncratic long N-terminal end region (NTER) 25% of which is comprised of arginine well known to interact with RNA. Furthermore, NTER was found to be important because when it was truncated, most of the enzyme activity was lost. Based on these facts, capability of NTER peptide to inhibit the enzymatic activity of ErmSF was sought. For this, expression system for two different proteins to be expressed in one cell was developed. In this system, two plasmids, pET23b and pACYC184 have unique replication origins to be compatible with each other in a cell. And expression system harboring promoter, ribosome binding site and transcription termination signal is identical but disparate amount of protein could be expressed according to the copy number of each vector, 15 for pACYC and 40 for pET23b. Expression of NTER peptide in pET23b together with ErmSF in pACYC 184 in E. coli successfully gave more amounts of NTER than ErmSF but no inhibitory effects were observed suggesting that there should be dynamicity in interaction between ErmSF and rRNA rather than simple and fixed binding to each other in methylation of 23S rRNA by ErmSF.

• The Journal of the Korean life insurance medical association
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.195-217
• /
• 1985

A statistical analysis on the ratio of weight-for-height in insurance medicine was carried out in a total of 12,690 insured persons who were medically examined at the Honam medical department, Dong Bang life insurance company, ltd. from June, 1979 to February, 1984. The results were as follows: 1. The mean value of the ratio of weight-for-height(W/H ratio) was $102.3{\pm}11.3%$ in all males, and $105.2{\pm}103.6%$ in all females. The difference of the values between males and females showed statistical significance(P<0.001). The mean value of W/H ratio in all the insureds was $103.8{\pm}12.9%$. In each age group, the mean value of female was higher than that of male without exception(P<0.001). The mean value of both sexes in each age group showed gradual increase with age except for the age group over 50(P<0.001). 2. The incidences of the average weighted, overweighted and underweighted lives were respectively 91.6% in all males, 84.2% in all females(P<0.001); 7.9% in all males, 15.4% in all females(P<0.001); 0.5% in all males, 0.4% in all females(P>0.05). The incidences of average weighted, overweighted and underweighted lives in all the insureds were respectively 87.6%, 12.0% and 0.5%. The incidence of the average weighted lives in male in each age group was always higher than that in female with the exception of the age group below 19(P<0.001), whereas the incidence of the overweighted lives in male in each age group was always lower than that in female(P<0.05 in the age group below 19, P<0.001 in the other age groups). The incidence of average weighted lives of both sexes in each age group showed gradual decrease with age from the second to fifth decade(P<0.001), whereas the incidence of the overweighted lives of both sexes in each age group showed gradual increase with age from the second to fifth decade(P<0.001). 3. The relative frequency distribution polygons of W/H ratio of both sexes drawn in a pair on one coordinate plane revealed lying in juxtaposition each other horizontally and showed the shifting of female's polygon to male's one toward the direction of greater value of W/H ratio at a short distance which increased gradually with age. 4. Correlations between both sexes and among age groups relating to W/H ratios of the insureds seem to be a physiological phenomenon of body build and should be considered on the rating of the build. Author prepared a rating table of build based on the correlations above menthioned. Some gradients by sex and age in the rating table of build are organized; in female group, the ratings of 0, 30-50, 50-100 and 100-D are to calculate by the build with W/H ratio of 80-125%, $126{\sim}145%,\;146{\sim}165%$ and over 166% respectively in the age group of 29 or under, by the build with W/H ratio of $80{\sim}130%,\;131{\sim}150%,\;151{\sim}170%$ and over 171% respectively in the age group of $30{\sim}59$, and by the build with W/H ratio of $80{\sim}135%,\;136{\sim}155%,\;156{\sim}175%$ and over 176% respectively in the age group of 60 or over. In male group, the ratings of 0, $30{\sim}50$, 50-100, and 100-D are to calculate by the build with W/H ratio of $80{\sim}120%,\;121{\sim}140%,\;141{\sim}160%$ and over 161% respectively in all ages. Of under weighted lives, in both sexes, the ratings of 30-50 and 50-D are to calculate by the build with W/H ratio of $76{\sim}79%$ and under 75% respectively. The results of the ratings according to a rating table by author were as follows: The incidence of the ratings of 0, 30-50, 50-100 and 100-D showed no difference between male and female. The incidence of the ratings of 0(indicating the average weighted lives) showed gradual decrease with age and the incidence of the ratings of 30-50 and 50-100(indicating the overweighted lives) showed gradual increase with age. These results are thought to be considerably reasonable because the incidence of the builds in each age group is supposed to have no difference by sex and the incidence of the overweighted lives would increase with age.

• Korean Security Journal
• /
• no.22
• /
• pp.113-144
• /
• 2010

Bioterrorism is becoming more attractive to terrorist groups owing to the dramatic increase in the utility and lethality of biological weapons in line with today's cutting-edge biological science and technology. The Republic of Korea is facing both internal and external terrorist threats, as well as the possible biological warfare by North Korea. Therefore, it is essential to establish an effective bioterrorism response system in the ROK. In order to come up with the adequate response system for the ROK, an in-depth study has been conducted on the current bioterrorism response system of the U.S. whose preparedness is considered relatively adamant. As a result, the following facts have been found: (1)the legislation with regard to bioterrorism has been established or amended according to the current situation in the U.S., (2)the counter terrorism activities have been integrated with the Department of the Homeland Security as the central agency in order to maximize the national CT capacity, (3)Specific procedures and instructions to cope with bioterrorism have been made into manuals so as to enhance the working-level response capabilities. Next, the analysis on the ROK's bioterrorism response system has been performed in various categories, including the legislation system, task role distribution, cooperative relations, and resource application. It turned out that the ROK's legislation basis is relatively weak and it lacks the apparatus to integrate the bioterrorism response activities on the national level. The shortage of the adequate response facilities and resources, as well as the poor management of manpower have also emerged as problems that hinder the effective CT implementations. Through an analytical and comparative study of the U.S. and the ROK systems, this paper presents several ways to ameliorate improve the current system in the ROK as follows: (1)establish the anti-terrorism law, which would be the basic legal basis for the bioterrorism-related matters; and make revisions to the disaster-related legislation, relevant to bioterrorism response activities, (2)establish an integrated body that has a powerful authority to coordinate the relevant CT agencies; and converge the decentralized functions to maximize the overall response capacity, (3)install the laboratories with a high biosafety level and secure enough of the strategic medical stock-pile, (4)enhance the ability of the inexperienced response personnel by providing with a manual that has detailed instructions.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.280-288
• /
• 2008

Purpose: To identify the inter-fractional shift pattern and to assess an adequate treatment margin in the radiotherapy of a liver tumor using mega-voltage computed tomography (MVCT) of a tomotherapy unit. Materials and Methods: Twenty-six patients were treated for liver tumors by tomotherapy from April 2006 to August 2007. The MVCT images of each patient were analyzed from the $1^{st}$ to the $10^{th}$ fraction for the assessment of the daily liver shift by four groups based on Couinard's proposal. Daily setup errors were corrected by bony landmarks as a prerequisite. Subsequently, the anterior-, posterior-, right-, and left shifts of the liver edges were measured by maximum linear discrepancies between the kilo-voltage computed tomography (KVCT) image and MVCT image. All data were set in the 2-dimensional right angle coordinate system of the transverse section of each patient's body. Results: The liver boundary shift had different patterns for each group. In group II (segment 2, 3, and 4), the anterior mean shift was $2.80{\pm}1.73\;mm$ outwards, while the left mean shift was $2.23{\pm}1.37\;mm$ inwards. In group IV (segment 7 and 8), the anterior-, posterior-, right-, and left mean shifts were $0.15{\pm}3.93\;mm$ inwards, $3.15{\pm}6.58\;mm$ inwards, $0.60{\pm}3.58\;mm$ inwards, and $4.50{\pm}5.35\;mm$ inwards, respectively. The reduced volume in group II after MVCT reassessment might be a consequence of stomach toxicity. Conclusion: Inter-fractional liver shifts of each group based on Couinard's proposal were somewhat systematic despite certain variations observed in each patient. The geometrical deformation of the liver by respiratory movement can cause shrinkage in the left margins of liver. We recommend a more sophisticated approach in free-breathing mode when irradiating the left lobe of liver in order to avoid stomach toxicity.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.21
• /
• pp.247-281
• /
• 2009

Local governments in Korea, sixteen in total, shall establish local government archives to and manage preserve their permanent archives to comply with the Public Records Management Act amended in October 2006. National Archives of Korea(NAK) directed the local governments to recruit legally qualified archivists by the end 0f 2006 and to plan on the establishment and operation of the local government archives by the end 2007. However, none of the government archives was established by far. Government officials in NAK and the local governments raised the limits of the budget and human resources. What is more serious is that they don't concern why the archives are necessary and what missions and functions the archives should have. In this paper, I summarized the present situation and problems in establishing the local archives, and what we will do to establish normal government archives. First, local governments should establish "local government records commissions" and employ qualified archivists. The local government records commission should comprise concerned and qualified members. The records commission, as a policy and decision-making body, should make plans and implement the plans to establish the local archives, establish professional training programs to produce qualified archivists, promote local archives community activities, determine operational issues, and make a long-term development plan satisfying local demands. Second, the local government archives share existing repositories of NAK. Third, after the establishment of the archives, the local archives should perform normal records and archives management of the local governments as records acts mandate, do general records surveys and appraise the records created in the local governments. The local government archives should collect valuable local archives including private archives, and arrange and make usable them to provide access. They also promote and coordinate various cultural heritage community activities related to the local archives.