• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.111-116
• /
• 2000

Pasteurella multocida, a Gram-negative coccobacillus, is part of the normal oral flora of many types of animals, including domestic dogs and cats. It is the etiologic agent of a variety of infectious diseases, such as hemorrhagic septicemia in cattle or fowl cholera in chicken. Although this is a primary pathogen in the animal world, infection due to Pasteurella multocida in man has been described with increasing frequency recently. The majority of individuals with Pasteurella multocida pulmonary infection possess some underlying pulmonary diseases, most commonly bronchiectasis or COPD. With a review of literature, We report a young man who developed the empyema caused by Pasteurella multocida.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
• /
• v.56 no.9
• /
• pp.407-410
• /
• 2013

Klebsiella pneumoniae has emerged as a leading pathogen that causes pyogenic liver abscesses (PLAs) in Korea. K. pneumoniae liver abscess (KLA) is potentially life threatening, and the diagnosis is difficult. In developed countries, PLA is rarely observed in children and is frequently associated with disorders of granulocyte function and previous abdominal infection. We observed a case of KLA in a healthy 12-year-old boy. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of KLA in an immunocompetent child without an underlying disease in Korea. The patient was treated with percutaneous catheter drainage and antibiotics. The catheter was placed in the intrahepatic abscess for 3 weeks and parenteral antibiotics (ceftriaxone and amikacin) were administered for 4 weeks, followed by oral antibiotics (cefixime) for 2 weeks. We reported this case to raise awareness of KLA in immunocompetent children among physicians, and to review the diagnosis, risk factors, potential complications, and appropriate treatment of KLA.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 1997

Following ginsenoside-Rb1-hydrolyzing assay, strictly anaerobic bacteria were isolated from human feces and identified as Prevotella oris. The bacteria hydrolyzed ginsenoside Rb1 and Rd to $20-O-{\beta}-D-glucopyranosyl-20(S)-protopanaxadiol$ (I), ginsenoside Rb2 to $20-O-[{\alpha}-L-arabinofuranosyl (1{\rightarrow}6)-{\beta}-D-glucopyranosyl] - 20(S)-protopanaxadiol$ (ll) and ginsenoside Rc to $20-O-[{\alpha}-L-arabinofuranosyl (1{\rightarrow} 6){\beta}-D-g1ucopyranosyl]-20(S)-protopanaxadiol$ (III) like fecal microflora, but did not attack ginsenoside Re nor Rgl (Protopanaxatriol-type). Pharmacokinetic studies of ginseng saponins was also performed using specific pathogen free rats and demonstrated that the intestinal bacterial metabolites I-111, 20(S)- protopanaxatriol(IV) and 20(S)-protopanaxadiol(V) were absorbed from the intestines to $blood(0.4-5.1\;{\mu}g/ml)$ after oral administration with total saponin(1 g/kg/day).

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.255-263
• /
• 2021

Human Astrovirus (HuAstV) is an important gastrointestinal pathogen that is frequently reported worldwide. Monitoring of contaminated groundwater has been suggested since HuAstV is transmitted through the fecal-oral route. This study developed a test method based on conventional reverse transcription (RT)-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that involves SL^® non-specific reaction inhibitor for unknown non-specific amplification taking place in the groundwater environment. An optimal method for detecting HuAstV in groundwater sample through analysis and comparison against conventionally reported method was also suggested. The developed method enabled the production of nested PCR amplicon of 630 nt, which is a sufficient length for similarity analysis based on sequencing and genotyping. Amplicons suspected to be HuAstV were amplified in two out of the twenty groundwater samples collected in Korea, presenting 99.77% and 99.73% similarity against HuAstV 1 strain lhar/2011/kor (JN887820.1) in sequencing, respectively. These amplicons were identified as HuAstV 1.

• Journal of Korean Dental Hygiene Science
• /
• v.4 no.2
• /
• pp.99-111
• /
• 2021

Background: This study aimed to investigate the changes of the amount of P. gingivalis in saliva by professional preventive treatment of periodontal disease by dental hygienists. Methods: A total of 109 subjects participated in this study with informed consent. The control group (38 subjects) performed oral hygiene management individually. The periodontal treatment group (35 subjects) underwent root planning once every 3 weeks for a total of 4 times. The professional periodontal prevention group (36 subjects) underwent interdental cleaning and professional tooth brushing once every 3 weeks for a total of 4 times. Paired T test and analysis of variance were performed to compare the difference among the groups in the amount of P. gingivalis. Results: The copies of P. gingivalis in the professional periodontal prevention group decreased from 773.62±1,198.09 to 241.40±430.40 after treatment significantly. The control group decreased from 525.22±582.54 to 244.29±385.88 after treatment. The periodontal treatment group showed insignificant change of P. gingivalis. Conclusions: This study showed the professional periodontal prevention was more effective than periodontal treatment in decrease of P. gingivalis.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.23-32
• /
• 2023

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious respiratory disease caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 infection may cause clinical manifestations of multiple organ damage, including various neurological syndromes. There are currently two oral antiviral drugs-Paxlovid and molnupiravir-that are recognized to treat COVID-19, but there are still no drugs that can specifically fight the challenges of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-like receptor pyrin domain-containing-3 (NLRP3) inflammasome is a multimolecular complex that can sense heterogeneous pathogen-associated molecular patterns associated with neurological disorders. The NLRP3 activation stimulates the production of caspase-1-mediated interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-18, and other cytokines in immune cells. Panax (P.) ginseng is a medicinal plant that has traditionally been widely used to boost immunity and treat various pathological conditions in the nervous system due to its safety and anti-inflammatory/oxidant/viral activities. Several recent reports have indicated that P. ginseng and its active ingredients may regulate NLRP3 inflammasome activation in the nervous system. Therefore, this review article discusses the current knowledge regarding the pathogenesis of neurological disorders related to COVID-19 and NLRP3 inflammasome activation and the possibility of using P. ginseng in a strategy targeting this pathway to treat neurological disorders.

• Genomics & Informatics
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.21.1-21.14
• /
• 2023

Fusobacterium nucleatum is a gram-negative bacteria associated with diverse infections like appendicitis and colorectal cancer. It mainly attacks the epithelial cells in the oral cavity and throat of the infected individual. It has a single circular genome of 2.7 Mb. Many proteins in F. nucleatum genome are listed as "Uncharacterized." Annotation of these proteins is crucial for obtaining new facts about the pathogen and deciphering the gene regulation, functions, and pathways along with discovery of novel target proteins. In the light of new genomic information, an armoury of bioinformatic tools were used for predicting the physicochemical parameters, domain and motif search, pattern search, and localization of the uncharacterized proteins. The programs such as receiver operating characteristics determine the efficacy of the databases that have been employed for prediction of different parameters at 83.6%. Functions were successfully assigned to 46 uncharacterized proteins which included enzymes, transporter proteins, membrane proteins, binding proteins, etc. Apart from the function prediction, the proteins were also subjected to string analysis to reveal the interacting partners. The annotated proteins were also put through homology-based structure prediction and modeling using Swiss PDB and Phyre2 servers. Two probable virulent factors were also identified which could be investigated further for potential drug-related studies. The assigning of functions to uncharacterized proteins has shown that some of these proteins are important for cell survival inside the host and can act as effective drug targets.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.477-487
• /
• 2014

Of the many pathogenic Candida species, Candida albicans is the main fungal pathogen of humans. The oral environmental factors considered in the Candida albicans colony forming unit test contain both host and microbial factors associated with candidiasis. In particular, Candida biofilms can develop on surfaces of prosthesis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the distribution of oral Candida species between the type of prosthesis and the situation of oral environment in patient with prosthetic appliance. The patients were 30 elderly subjects with different types of prosthesis, 7 who wore denture, 12 who wore implant and 15 who wore removable orthodontic appliance. We used Candida albicans colony forming unit test using saliva to exam the distribution of Candida albicans related with 5 oral environmental factors, gender, smoking or nonsmoking, alcohol/nonalcohol consumption, the type of prosthetic appliance and its treatment duration as well as tooth brushing frequency per day. In conclusion, for the patient's gender, site in the oral cavity and the type of prosthetic appliance and its treatment duration was associated with an increase in the distribution of Candida albicans in saliva. The distribution of Candida albicans within the oral cavity performs to be modulated to varying extents by oral environmental factors and, further investigations are required to elucidate these complex interactions.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.1034-1041
• /
• 2010

The oriental medicine Jangwonhwan, which is a boiled extract of 12 medicinal herbs/mushroom, has been prescribed for patients with cognitive dysfunction and it is originally from the Korean medical text, DonguiBogam(amnesia chapter). Recently, a modified recipe of Jangwonhwan (LMK02-Jangwonhwan) consisting of seven medicinal plants/mushroom, was shown to reduce ${\beta}$-amyloid deposition in the brain of Tg-APPswe/PS1dE9 mouse model of Alzheimer disease. The toxicity of LMK02 was investigated in SD rats by oral repeated adminstration for 4 weeks and we tried to determine test does for 13 weeks repeated study. Quality control of tablet form of LMK02 was established by estimating indicative components, Ginsenoside Rg3 of Red Ginseng and Decursin of Angelicagigas Nakai. The toxicity of LMK02 was investigated in 6 weeks old specific pathogen free (SPF) Sprageu-Dawley rats by oral administration. Each test group were consist of 5 male and 5 female and they received doses of 500, 1,000 and 2,000 mg/kg/day of test substance for 4 weeks. The clinical signs, death rate, body weight, food consumption, ophthalmic examination, urinalysis, hematological and serum biochemistry, organ weight and pathological changes were examined and compared with those of control group. Urinalysis : We observed increase of PRO(p<0.01), SG(p<0.01) in female rats of 1,000 mg/kg/day and 2,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.01). Also, we observed increase of pH and KET in female rats of 1,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.05) and of 2,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.01). WBC in female rats in 1,000 mg/kg/day and 2,000 mg/kg/day were on increase. Hematological test : We observed increase of MCV in male rats of 250 mg/kg/day. (p<0.05) Serum biochemistry test : We found increase of CHO in female rats of 2,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.05). During the experimental period, there were no animals dead or moribund. There were no treatment related changes of general symptom, food and water consumption, organ weight and autopsy According to the results of 4-week repeated dose range finding study, the highest dose was established as 1000 mg/kg for 13-week repeated dose toxicity study and we determined to put 2 more groups by common ratio two.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.200-206
• /
• 2010

In this study, we investigated the antibacterial effect of 69 oriental medicinal herbs (OMHs) on Actinomyces viscocus, Streptococcus sobrinus, and two strains of Streptococcus mutans as oral bacteria. Methanol extracts of OMHs were used in the first antibacterial test, and then boiled water, ethanol, methanol, and ethyl acetate extracts of C. japonica, C. sappan, P. mume, and S. chinensis were used in the second test. Boiled water extract of C. japonica was shown to have the most superior effect on oral bacteria. The extract yield of boiled water extract of C. japonica was 22%, and the growth of oral bacteria was almost inhibited at over a 180 mg/ml concentration. Antibacterial effect compound analyzed by UPLC method was identified as berberine, and the content was 25.54%. In addition, the extract appeared to be stable at $121^{\circ}C$ for 15 min.