• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.120-123
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• 2011

A total of 30 water samples were collected from 30 different public baths in Seoul, Korea. Contamination of public bath water by waterborne pathogens can cause disease outbreaks and contribute to increase background rates of disease. Pathogens in water was filtered by nitrocellulose membrane with $0.45{\mu}m$ pore size. The membrane filters were analyzed by both cultivation and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of partial 16S rRNA gene. Various microorganisms including 4 Escherichia coli/Shigella spp. 1 Salmonella spp. 3 Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 2 Mycobacterium spp. were identified by reverse blot hybridization assay (REBA). PCR-REBA was able to identify many bacterial genera in one assay. Our results suggest that appropriate hygiene practice and continuous monitoring is needed for reducing health risk associated with public bath houses.

• 보존과학연구
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• s.28
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• pp.75-90
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• 2007

The ancient biomolecular remains are the potential source for paleobiology and paleoanthropology. Especially, ancient human specimens such as bone, teeth, and hair are powerful materials to identify historical origin and migration of ancestor population from the past. However, most excavated human specimens in archaeological sites have commonly problems as natural damage and exogenous contamination. We carried out histological and molecular analyses of excavated bone from the historic sites in South Korea from the recently discovered in tumulus of Seochun and Naju. Biological deterioration of bone was observed anatomically by optical and scanning electron microscope (SEM). We extracted degraded DNA, and amplified hyper variable region (HVR) of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and amelogenin of nucleus DNA. This study applied and examined the relationships between histological preservation and DNA survival in excavated bone.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.60-80
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• 1996

AVHRR(Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) on NOAA satellite provides data in five spectral, one in visible range, one in near infrared and three in thermal range. In this paper, application of NOAA/AVHRR data is studied for environment monitoring such as cloud top temperature, surface temperature, albedo, sea surface temperature, vegetation index, forest fire, flood, snow cover and so on. The analyses for cloud top temperature, surface temperature, albedo, sea surface temperature, vegetation index and forest fire showed reasonable agreement. But monitoring for flood and snow cover was uneasy due to the limitations such as cloud contamination, low spatial resolution. So this research had only simple purpose to identify well-defined waterbody for dynamic monitoring of flood. Based on development of these basic algorithms, we have a plan to further reseach for environment monitoring using AVHRR data.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.28-36
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• 2012

This study carried out several kinds of investigations such as geology, hydrogeology, groundwater level and quality, surface-water quality, and the quantity and quality of groundwater discharge from the subway to identify the causes of groundwater contamination around the subway tunnel at Suyeong District in Busan City. Geostatistical analyses were also conducted to understand the characteristics of groundwater level and quality distributions. There are Kwanganri Beach and Suyeong River in the study area, which are basically influenced by seawater. The total quantities of groundwater utilization and groundwater discharge from the subway tunnel in Suyeong District are 2,282,000 $m^3$/year, which is 2.4 times larger than the sustainable development yield of groundwater. The lowest groundwater level around the subway tunnel is about 32 m below the mean sea-level. The large drawdown of groundwater led to the inflow of seawater and salinized river water toward the subway tunnel, and therefore the quality of groundwater didn't satisfy the criteria of potable, domestic, agricultural and industrial uses. Distribution maps of groundwater level and qualities produced by kriging were very useful for determining the causes of groundwater contamination in the study area. The distribution maps of electrical conductivity, chloride and sulfate showed the extent of seawater intrusion and the forceful infiltration of the salinized Suyeong River. This study revealed that seawater and salinized river water infiltrated into the inland groundwater and contaminated the groundwater around the subway tunnel, because the groundwater level was seriously drawdowned by groundwater discharge from the subway tunnel. The countermeasure for the minimization of groundwater discharge from the subway tunnel is necessary to prevent the groundwater obstacles such as groundwater depletion, groundwater-quality deterioration, and land subsidence.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.108-114
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• 2017

Background: The study was conducted to investigate the distributions of faecal bacteria in commercial oriental medicine herb products. Methods and Results: A survey was conducted on the microbial contamination levels and antimicrobial specificity of Bacillus cereus and other microbes using 106 oriental medicine herb products on sale in Seoul. Pouring and isolation methods such as standard plate counts were used to identify the bacteria. The isolated bacterias included coliforms, Bacillus spp., Enterococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp., Listeria spp.were identified by using gram staining and an API (analytical profile index) kit. Antimicrobial drugs discs were determined by CLSI (clinical and laboratory standards institute). Conclusions: The bacterial isolates present in the herbal medicines included 98 coliforms, 45 Bacillus spp., 29 Enterococcus spp., and 2 Listeria spp. Among these, there were nine Bacillus cereus strains, one Enterococcus faecium strain, and one Enterococcus faecalis strain present. The 9 Bacillus cereus strains were tested for susceptibility to 36 types of antibiotics products by the disc diffusion method. The strains showed resistance to 13 of these antibiotic products and semi-resistance to 5 antibiotic products. On the basis of these results, any oriental medicine herb product can be assumed to be contain resistant or semi-resistant bacterial strains. Therefore, we suggest prescribing guidelines and special management for the use of antibiotics in farms producing oriental medicine herb products.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.125-131
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• 2010

Bacterial contamination is an unavoidable finding of the semen collection process in boar and can lead in deleterious effects on semen quality and longevity if left uncontrolled. The purpose of this study is to identify the bacteria in extended boar semen and to select the effective antimicrobials to control of the contaminants. Of 116 extended boar semen samples submitted from eight AI centers in Korea, 39 (33.6%) samples were positive for bacterial contamination. Among 39 contaminated semen, most of them (84.6%) were contaminated with one or two bacterial species and there was no significant difference between two age groups $(\leq\;24\;and\;>\;24\;month\;old).$ Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (n = 18) was the most predominant bacterium followed by Elizabethkingia meningoseptica (n = 12), Sphingomonas paucimobilis (n = 12), Myroides spp. (n = 5), Ochrobactrum anthropi (n = 3), and so on. Enrofloxacin (72.9%), florfenicol (72.9%), bacitracin (49.2%) and tylosin (49.2%) showed higher sensitivity compared with penicillin (13.6%) or aminoglycosides (6.8%-18.6%). Brucella spp., Leptospira spp., Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae, Mycoplasma hyorhinis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex were not detected in semen by PCR.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.85-98
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• 2001

This study deals with the petrographic examination of aggregates(ASTM C 295) which is one of the methods to diagnose the quality of aggregates for concrete artifacts. A number of examinations including size and sieve analysis, test on the coating material, description of the weathering and contamination condition, petrographic description, and qualitative and quantitative analyses on the rocks and minerals potential to alkali-aggregates reactivity are carried out to examine the quality of aggregates. Petrographic description method examined on the fluvial aggregates from Maewhacheon A, B area, Uljin-gun, Kyungnam province shows that weathering grade ranges from F(fresh) to WS(slightly weathered) and coating material and contamination are not in a harmful condition. The weight percentage of the alkali-aggregates reactive minerals or structurally unstable rocks of the aggregates from study area covers 26% and 19% of all aggregates, respectively. So it is necessary to further identify their quality through the chemical(ASTM C 289) and mortar-bar method (ASTM C 227).

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2016

Major diseases in grafted cacti have been reported and Fusarium oxysporum, Bipolaris cactivora, Phytophthora spp. and Collectotrichum spp. are known as causal pathogens. These pathogens can lead to plant death after infection. Therefore, some European countries have quarantined imported cacti that are infected with specific fungal pathogens. Consequently, we developed PCR detection methods to identify four quarantined fungal pathogens and reduce export rejection rates of Korean grafted cacti. The pathogen specific primer sets F.oF-F.oR, B.CF-B.CR, P.nF-P.nR, and P.cF-P.CR were tested for F. oxysporum, B.cactivora, P. nicotinae, and P. cactorum, respectively. The F.oF-F.oR primer set was designed from the Fusarium ITS region; the B.CF-B.CR and P.nF-P.nR primers respectively from Bipolaris and Phytophthora ITS1; and the P.cF-P.CR primer set from the Ypt1protein gene region. The quarantine fungal pathogen primer pairs were amplified to the specific number of base pairs in each of the following fungal pathogens: 210-bp (F. oxysporum), 510-bp (B. cactivora), 313-bp (P. nicotinae), and 447-bp (P. cactorum). The detection limit for the mono- and multiplex PCR primer sets was 0.1 ng of template DNA under in vitro conditions. Therefore, each primer set successfully diagnosed contamination of quarantine pathogens in export grafted cacti. Consequently, our methodology is a viable tool to screen contamination of the fungal pathogen in exported grafted cacti.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2005

This study was carried out to identify bacterial strains adhered to human scalp hair and to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility of them. A total of 39 isolates were obtained from patients in intensive care units and healthy persons. The most common species isolated was Staphylococcus epidermidis (19 isolates), followed by S. aureus (14 isolates), S. waneri (5 isolates), and S. pasteuri (1 isolate). The susceptibility of isolates to amikacin, ampicillin, bacitracin, carbenicillin, cefazolin, cefoperazone, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, gentamicin, methicillin, nalidixic acid, neomycin, oxacillin, penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline and vancomycin was determined by the disk diffusion method. All of the antibiotic resistant isolates were obtained from patient scalp hair. To examine the effect of conventional shampoo and detergent SDS on removing of bacteria from hair, we treated hair with culture solution of S. aureus. The bacteria attached to hair were not removed even by repeated washing with detergents. These results suggested that hair could be a source of bacterial contamination in hospital.

• Environmental Sciences Bulletin of The Korean Environmental Sciences Society
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• v.10 no.S_3
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• pp.113-119
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• 2001

Surface sediments(0~5 cm) were sampled from 22 stations in Ulsan Bay, one of the most highly industrialized regions in Korea, in November 2000. The sediment samples were analyzed for their polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon(PAH) content using a gas chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer detector(GC/MSD). The total PAH concentrations in the sediments varied from 14 to 7108 ng/g dry weight with a mean value of 1052 ng/g dry weight. The level of carcinogenic PAHs ranged from 6 to 2396 ng/g dry weight with a mean value of 433 ng/g dry weight. The highest PAH concentrations in the sediments from Ulsan Bay were found at Station U8, whereas the lowest levels were observed at Stations U2 and U 17. The PAH distribution exhibited a decreasing gradient from the inner basin to the outer bay. The predominant contributors to the aromatic ring groups of the 16 PAHs were four- and five-ring groups, such as fluoranthene, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzor[b]fluoranthene, benzor[k]fluoranthene and benzo[a]pyrene, while two- and three-ring aromatics, like naphthalene, acenapthylene, acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene and anthracene, only exhibited a low concentration. The molecular indices for phenanthrene/anthracene and fluoranthen/pyrene were used to Identify the origin of the PAH contamination in the sediments. The results indicated that the PAH contamination in Ulsan Bay was mostly Pyrolytic in origin with a Petrogenic input adjacent to Ulsan and Jangsuengpo harbor.