• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.222-229
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• 2014

Objectives: Pig farmers are known as the high risk group for the zoonoses, but the study for pig farmers to zoonoses has been rare in Korea. So we surveyed the awareness on zoonoses among pig farmers to suggest directions for education. Methods: We visited four regional spots (Gyeongsangnam-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Jeollanam-do, and Chungcheongnam-do) where the self education programs of Korea pork producers were convened. We conducted a questionnaire survey of the general, work-related characteristics and the awareness on zoonoses among 278 pig farmers. Results: The awareness rate of zoonoses itself, brucellosis, tuberculosis and salmonellosis were 52.9%, 85.6%, 87.8%, 89.6%, respectively. The awareness rate of the content related to zoonoses, "Human can be infected by the disease of pig", was 46.9%. Awareness rate of zoonoses tended to increase as the school career, and awareness rate of salmonellosis tended to increase as working duration of pig raising. Conclusions: The pig is the principal reservoir of zoonoses. Therefore, effective working guidelines to prevent zoonoses for pig farmers must be developed and an educational program on zoonoses is needed for pig farmers. Furthermore, publicity activities about the prevention of zoonoses are needed for high-risk groups.

• 한국환경농학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.07a
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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.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.89-101
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• 2017

Crime occurs differently based on not only place locations and building uses but also the characteristics of the people who use the place and the spatial structures of the buildings and locations. Therefore, if spatial big data, which contain spatial and regional properties, can be utilized, proper crime prevention measures can be enacted. Recently, with the advent of big data and the revolutionary intelligent information era, predictive policing has emerged as a new paradigm for police activities. Based on 7420 actual crime incidents occurring over three years in a typical provincial city, "J city," this study identified the areas in which crimes occurred and predicted risky areas. Spatial regression analysis was performed using spatial big data about only physical and environmental variables. Based on the results, using the street width, average number of building floors, building coverage ratio, the type of use of the first floor (Type II neighborhood living facility, commercial facility, pleasure use, or residential use), this study established a Crime Incident Prediction Model (CIPM) based on Bayesian probability theory. As a result, it was found that the model was suitable for crime prediction because the overlap analysis with the actual crime areas and the receiver operating characteristic curve (Roc curve), which evaluated the accuracy of the model, showed an area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.8. It was also found that a block where the commercial and entertainment facilities were concentrated, a block where the number of building floors is high, and a block where the commercial, entertainment, residential facilities are mixed are high-risk areas. This study provides a meaningful step forward to the development of a crime prediction model, unlike previous studies that explored the spatial distribution of crime and the factors influencing crime occurrence.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.162-173
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• 2009

Information on the expected geographical shift of suitable zones for growing crops under future climate is a starting point of adaptation planning in agriculture and is attracting much concern from policy makers as well as researchers. Few practical schemes have been developed, however, because of the difficulty in implementing the site-selection concept at an analytical level. In this study, we suggest site-selection criteria for quality Fuji apple production and integrate geospatial data and information available in public domains (e.g., digital elevation model, digital soil maps, digital climate maps, and predictive models for agroclimate and fruit quality) to implement this concept on a GIS platform. Primary criterion for selecting sites suitable for Fuji apple production includes land cover, topography, and soil texture. When the primary criterion is satisfied, climatic conditions such as the length of frost free season, freezing risk during the overwintering period, and the late frost risk in spring are tested as the secondary criterion. Finally, the third criterion checks for fruit quality such as color and shape. Land attributes related to these factors in each criterion were implemented in ArcGIS environment as relevant raster layers for spatial analysis, and retrieval procedures were automated by writing programs compatible with ArcGIS. This scheme was applied to the A1B projected climates for South Korea in the future normal years (2011-2040, 2041-2070, and 2071-2100) as well as the current climate condition observed in 1971-2000 for selecting the sites suitable for quality Fuji apple production in each period. Results showed that this scheme can figure out the geographical shift of suitable zones at landscape scales as well as the latitudinal shift of northern limit for cultivation at national or regional scales.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.227-235
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• 2015

Food-Health indicators have been developed and utilized internationally in the 'Food' domain of environment and health indicators. In Korea, however, Food Safety Health Indicators which are in the introductory stage had been developed separately from Environmental Health Indicators. The aim of the current study is to suggest feasible applications of the domestic Food Safety Health Indicators as a case study. We introduced 3 possible applications which are as follows: 1) production of two types of Integrated Food Safety Health Index; 2) conduction of correlation analysis between the Integrated Food Safety Health Index and Food Safety Health Indicators; 3) conduction of regression analysis to evaluate the relationship between the Integrated Food Safety Health Index and socioeconomic status. As a result, we provided the calculated Integrated Food Safety Health Index I and Integrated Food Safety Health Index II, which represents the regional food safety level in relative and absolute terms, respectively. Integrated Food Safety Health Index I was significantly correlated with the outbreaks of food-borne diseases (caused by Campylobacter jejuni, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella spp. and unknown cause) and incidence of E.coli infections. Integrated Food Safety Health Index II significantly decreased as the proportion of foreigners and women increased, and increased as the population density increased. Utilization of such Integrated Food Safety Health Indicators may be helpful in understanding the overall domestic food safety level and identifying the indicators which must be considered with priorities to enhance the food safety levels regionally and domestically. Furthermore, analyzing the association between Integrated Food Safety Health Index and factors other than food safety could be useful in conducting risk management and identifying susceptible populations. Food Safety Health Indicators can be useful in other applications, and may serve as a supporting material in establishing or modifying policy plans to enhance food safety. Therefore, keen interests by researchers accompanied by further studies on food safety health indicators are needed.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.113 no.1
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• pp.40-50
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• 2024

Pine forests are continuously declining due to competition with broadleaf trees, such as oaks, as a consequence of changes in the natural dynamics of forest ecosystem. This natural decline creates a risk of losing the various benefits pine trees have provided to people in the past. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare future forest management directions by considering the state of pine tree decline in each region. The goal of this study is to understand the characteristics of pine forest changes according to forest dynamics and to predict future regional changes. For this purpose, we evaluated the trend of change in pine forests and extracted various variables(topography, forest stand type, disturbance, and climate) that affect the change, using time-series National Forest Inventory (NFI) data. Also, using selected key variables, a model was developed to predict future changes in pine forests. As a results, it showed that the importance of pine trees in forests across the country has decreased overall over the past 10 years. Also, 75% of the sample points representing pine trees remained unchanged, while the remaining 25% had changed to mixed forests. It was found that these changes mainly occurred in areas with good moisture conditions or disturbance factors inside and outside the forest. In the next 10 years, approximately 14.2% of current pine forests was predicted to convert to mixed forests due to changes in natural forest dynamics. Regionally, the rate of pine forest change was highest in Jeju(42.8%) and Gyeonggi(26.9%) and lowest in Gyeongbuk(8.8%) and Gangwon(13.8%). It was predicted that pine forests would be at a high risk of decline in western areas of the Korean Peninsula, including Gyeonggi, Chungcheong, and Jeonnam. This results can be used to make a management plan for pine forests throughout the country.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.267-277
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• 2014

Objective of this paper is to assess the available data on the pesticide uses and regulations in the golf courses, and provide the nationwide systematic management options. Numbers of golf courses in Korea are rapidly increasing from 2000s and reached at 421 sites by the end of 2011. Accordingly pesticide usage has been increased with years in direct proportion to the increasing number of golf courses. Amounts of pesticide applied in 2011 were 118,669 kg as of an active ingredient and were in the orders of fungicides (54.9%) > insecticides (24.4%) > herbicides (13.3%) > growth regulators (0.1%). Average pesticide usages in 2011 were 280.9 kg per golf course and $5.4kg\;ha^{-1}$. Frequencies of the residual pesticide detections in green and turf were higher than those in fairway and soil, respectively. Residue of highly toxic pesticides was not detected in golf courses. Ministry of Environment in 2010 has developed the 'golf course pesticide monitoring and management system' which is the advanced online registry for kind and amount of pesticides applied in each golf course. This system is intended for monitoring of the pesticide uses and residual levels and protecting the environmental pollution from pesticides in the golf course. In 2009, management of pesticides in the golf courses became the task of Ministry of Environment, being merged from many federal agency and ministries. The protocol for the site-specific best management practices, on which to base results from the risk assessment, should be set for pesticides in the golf to minimize the environmental impacts.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.22-35
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• 2005

A survey was conducted to investigate the perception of food sanitation officers toward the Genetically Modified Foods. They were mainly from Regional Agencies of KFDA, City/Province office, and National quarantine station. Some of them were professors of university and researchers of research institute. Most of respondents had experiences of hearing or reading GM foods (over $95\%$) and over $90\%$ of respondents much needed the label of GM foods. Although some of officers of city/province office and national quarantine station showed less knowledge than other respondent groups, most of respondents had basic knowledge about biology. The frequency of respondents worked over 20 years and worked in the general administration was higher than that of other groups in the question of unsafe of GM foods. The answer frequency of careless treatment of foods was highest in the question of risk factor, and the frequency of GM foods was lowest ($4.4\%$). It was concluded that food sanitation officers had positive opinion about GM foods, but there were some differences in the knowledge among agencies. Therefore, it is necessary more educations and informations are needed for food sanitation officers.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.272-279
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• 2011

Fusarium species are worldwide causal agents of Fusarium head blight (FHB) in cereals such as barley and wheat. Their toxigenic potential is a health risk for both humans and animals. To survey the natural occurrence of FHB and mycotoxins produced by Fusarium, total 126 barley or wheat grains grown in 2009-2010 season in Korea were collected. The incidence of FHB was 30.7% in silage barley, 26.9% in wheat, 20.7% in naked barley, 19.4% in malting barley, 16.4% in unhulled barley. Overall FHB incidence of barley and wheat in 2010 was 23.0% and 10% higher than that of 2009. The incidences and level of deoxynivalenol (DON), nivalenol (NIV), and zearalenone (ZEA) were 34%, 0.89 mg/kg, 84.9%, 1.86 mg/kg, and 10.3%, 0.06 mg/kg respectively. The both levels and incidences of NIV were found to be highest in barley, whereas the level of DON was found to be highest in wheat. Incidences of DON and NIV and the level of NIV in the samples from southern regions of Korea were higher than those from central region, whereas the level of DON from central region was higher than that from southern regions. This is the first paper demonstrating regional difference in natural occurrence of DON and NIV in wheat and barley.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.245-258
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• 2010

Smoking has been identified not as a major risk factor for circulatory and respiratory diseases but also as causes of various oral diseases. A number of clinical studies and regional health surveys have found an association between smoking and poor oral health status and between smoking and prognosis of dental treatments. However, there is few studies about status of smoking cessation treatment and policies in dentistry in Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the smoking patterns of outpatients and outcomes of short-term smoking cessation treatment in dental hospitals in Korea and, subsequently, to seek further smoking cessation services in dentistry. This study was sponsored by Korean Dental Association (KDA) and department of culture and welfare. 825 dental patients were voluntarily participated in a 4-week smoking cessation program with nicotine patch and 297 participants of them completed on smoking-related questionnaires. All participants were recruited from outpatients of 11 dental university hospitals (primarily in the department of oral medicine, oral surgery and periodontology) in Korea during 3-month period from October 2009 to January 2010. The Questionnaires included demographics, duration of smoking, heavy smoking index (HSI), number of thinking of quit smoking, duration of stop smoking and reasons to smoking, awareness of smoking effects on oral health, and their success rate after 4 weeks of nicotine patch program was investigated. The statistical analysis was carried by SPSS version 18.0 program and Chi-square test. According to the results of this study, male in their 30s to 50s were the most prevalent of all the participants and duration of smoking increased with age. Attempt rate to quit smoking (Quit smoking) was the highest in 30s and 40s with duration of quit smoking ranging 1 to 3 months. Emotional stresswas the most frequently reported reason for smoking, followed by habit and pleasure in order. All age group showed high HIS over 71% and awareness of smoking effects on oral diseases such as oral soft tissue diseases, periodontal diseases and dental caries was found relatively high (50~60%) Periodontal implant was the main reason for participation in the smoking cessation services in dental clinics and the success rate of, 4-week nicotine patch program of all the participants was 29.4%, extremely low compared to that of medical clinics. Systemic education for dentists to be able to provide interventions to quit smoking including counseling with the 5As'and development of available measures for smokers is needed as considered that the low success rate of the smoking cessation services in dentistry could be explained mainly by lack of dentists' strategies, experience and attention. Awareness and attention of dentists should be emphasized and their participation be encouraged by long-term, multidisciplinary policies such as establishment of insurance fee, which would made a considerable progress in preventing smoking-related oral diseases and promoting public oral health.