• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.304-310
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• 2024

Ricin is a highly toxic protein which is produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant. Ricin toxin A chain has ribosomal RNA N-glycosylase activity that irreversibly hydrolyses the N-glycosidic bond of the adenine residue at position 4324 within the 28S rRNA. In this study, we developed non-toxic recombinant ricin vaccine(R51) in E. coli expression system, and evaluated efficacy of the R51 according to adjuvants. When the R51 was administered using aluminum hydroxide as an adjuvant, the vaccine efficacy was higher than that of TLR agonists or aluminum phosphate. Because it is time-consuming to administer the vaccine three times at three-week intervals, we investigated the survival rate and antibody titer of mice according to the change of time interval of vaccination. Interestingly, there was no difference in survival rate and antibody titer when R51 was administered at 0, 1, and 3 weeks or 0, 2, and 4 weeks compared to when administered at 0, 3, and 6 weeks. Therefore, the developed R51 vaccine is promising to protect soldiers from Ricin attack.

• The Journal of Korean Academic Society of Nursing Education
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-60
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• 2024

Purpose: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had significant physical and psychological impacts on registered nurses (RNs). This study aimed to identify long COVID symptoms and their associated factors specifically among RNs. Methods: This descriptive correlational study's sample comprised 189 nurses (31.57±5.98 years, 93.7% female) in Korea. Self-reported long COVID symptoms were assessed using the COVID-19 Yorkshire Rehabilitation Scale. Data were collected from December 31, 2022, to January 13, 2023, using the online survey method and were analyzed using independent t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's correlation, and a multiple linear regression analysis with the IBM SPSS Statistics 26.0 program. Results: A total of 179 participants (94.7%) experienced one or more long COVID symptoms. The most prevalent symptoms were weakness (77.8%), fatigue (68.3%), breathlessness (67.7%), cough/throat sensitivity/voice change (50.3%), and sleep problems (50.3%). The factors related to long COVID symptoms were marital status, type of institution, working time, acute COVID-19 symptoms, and vaccination status. The quarantine period (β=.26, p<.001) and the nursing workforce after COVID-19 (β=-.17, p=.018) were significantly associated with long COVID symptoms (Adjusted R² =.33). Conclusion: Providing comprehensive recognition is necessary for the understanding of long COVID symptoms and their associated factors among nurses and could promote a long COVID symptom management education program targeted at nurses. Moreover, it could facilitate effective nursing care and education plans for long COVID patients.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.66 no.1
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• pp.31-56
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• 2024

Pig farming, a vital industry, necessitates proactive measures for early disease detection and crush symptom monitoring to ensure optimum pig health and safety. This review explores advanced thermal sensing technologies and computer vision-based thermal imaging techniques employed for pig disease and piglet crush symptom monitoring on pig farms. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a non-invasive and efficient technology for measuring pig body temperature, providing advantages such as non-destructive, long-distance, and high-sensitivity measurements. Unlike traditional methods, IRT offers a quick and labor-saving approach to acquiring physiological data impacted by environmental temperature, crucial for understanding pig body physiology and metabolism. IRT aids in early disease detection, respiratory health monitoring, and evaluating vaccination effectiveness. Challenges include body surface emissivity variations affecting measurement accuracy. Thermal imaging and deep learning algorithms are used for pig behavior recognition, with the dorsal plane effective for stress detection. Remote health monitoring through thermal imaging, deep learning, and wearable devices facilitates non-invasive assessment of pig health, minimizing medication use. Integration of advanced sensors, thermal imaging, and deep learning shows potential for disease detection and improvement in pig farming, but challenges and ethical considerations must be addressed for successful implementation. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art technologies used in the pig farming industry, including computer vision algorithms such as object detection, image segmentation, and deep learning techniques. It also discusses the benefits and limitations of IRT technology, providing an overview of the current research field. This study provides valuable insights for researchers and farmers regarding IRT application in pig production, highlighting notable approaches and the latest research findings in this field.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2003

Purpose: Hepatic allografts from donors with hepatitis B core antibody have been demonstrated to transmit hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection to recipients after liver transplantation (LT). The efficacy of hepatitis B immune globulin (HBIg) to prevent de novo hepatitis B was investigated by comparing active immunization in the early phase to HBIg monotherapy in the late phase of pediatric liver transplants at Samsung Medical Center. Methods: Among pediatric liver transplants, from May, 1996 to June, 2002, 15 recipients who were hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) (-) received an allograft from a donor with hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) (+). Except two who died from unrelated causes, eleven of 13 recipients were HBsAb (+), and 2 were naive (HBsAb(-), HBcAb(-)). All patients were vaccinated for HBV before LT. In the early phase (January, 1997~November, 1997, 3 patients), HBsAb (+) recipients received booster vaccination after LT. In the late phase (December, 1997~, 10 patients), all recipients were given booster vaccination and received HBIg therapy in order to maintain HBsAb titer greater than 200 IU/L. Lamivudine was given in one case because of severe side effect of HBIg. We retrospectively analyzed the effect of the preventive therapy for de novo hepatitis B through medical records. Results: De novo hepatitis B developed in three of 13 recipients (23.1%). All of 3 patients who received active immunization in the early phase became HBsAg (+) at 7~19 months after transplantation. One of them was naive before LT and the other two were HBsAb (+). All of 10 recipients who were given HBIg in the late phase remained HBsAg (-) at 7~55 months' follow-up. Conclusion: Passive immunization with HBIg was effective for prevention of de novo hepatitis B in HBsAg (-) recipients of hepatic allografts from HBcAb (+) donors.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.255-263
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• 2010

Inclusion body hepatitis-hydropericardium syndrome (IBH-HPS) is an acute viral disease usually found in broilers aged from 3 to 5 weeks and causes up to 75% mortality. Among the 12 serotypes of fowl adenovirus group 1, serotype-4 (FAdV-4) was identified as a primary agent of IBH-HPS and was usually isolated in IBH-HPS cases in Korea since 2007. To prevent these IBH-HPS outbreaks in Korea, we developed the FAdV-4 inactivated vaccine using Korean isolate (ADL070244) and evaluated the efficacy of this vaccine. For the efficacy test, 2-week-old specific-pathogen-free (SPF) chickens intramuscularly inoculated with 1 or 2 dose of inactivated vaccine were used and challenged with FAdV-4 through either intramuscular or oral route at 2 weeks after vaccination. The vaccine induced good seroconversion which was confirmed by agar gel precipitation (AGP) test. In addition, the vaccine could decrease the FAdV-4 detection rate and histological lesion severity such as lymphocyte infiltration and necrosis in the liver comparing with those of non-vaccination group. Based on the current results, the developed FAdV-4 inactivated vaccine in this study was effective in the terms of reduction of virus detection rate and histological lesions severity. However, it was difficult to confirm the efficacy of the vaccine clearly because of no mortality and clinical signs in the non-vaccinated group after challenge. Therefore, we need further study to develop a standard challenged model system which could clearly evaluate the efficacy of the vaccines for FAdV-4.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.195-201
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• 2005

Objective : The purpose of this study is to investigate the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of herpes zoster in children and adolescents in Korea and to delineate the effects of varicella vaccine on the incidence of zoster and its complication. Methods : We evaluated the clinical records of 201 patients younger than 20 years admitted for herpes zoster at four hospitals located in Kyung-Gi provine during Jul. 1995 to Jun. 2005. Results : The admitted patients for herpes zoster have increased during the past 10 years. The effects of varicella vaccine on the incidence of herpes zoster remain inconclusive in this study. Only twelve percent of the study patients had underlying diseases. In 34(17%) of 201 patients, complications were confirmed during hospitalization. Of 34 patients, meningitis occurred most frequently. Irrespective of varicella vaccination, occurrence of complications was higher in patients who had experienced varicella previously(=overt varicella infection) than patients who had not(=subclinical varicella infection). In case of no previous varicella history, we found complications to be much lower in those who had received the varicella vaccine than those who had not. Conclusion : We cannot conclude whether the varicella vaccine has an effect on the increasing incidence of zoster. We can conclude that the subclinical varicella infection or vaccination for varicella might lead to a decreased incidence of zoster complications.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.126-132
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• 1997

Measles outbreak in the world was decreased since measles vaccine had been introduced. Although vaccination rate is high, measles was not eradicated and measles reappeared among vaccinated children. We measured measles-specific antibody from the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups who had experienced apparent measles in the Seongnam city in 1993. The results were as follows. 1) The data included total 126 children (M:F=1 : 1). Age distribution of measles outbreak revealed 6 children in 5yr, 11 in 6yr, 20 in 7yr, 39 in 8yr, 22 in 9yr, 11 in 10yr, 11 in 11yr, and 6 in 12yr. 2) MMR vaccination rate was 78.6%(99/126) in the children who had experienced measles. Positive rate of measles-specific IgM Ab was 80.8% (80/99) among the vaccinated group and among 9E.6.% (25/27) the unvaccinated. 3) Positive rate of measles-specific IgG Ab was 90.9% (90/99) among MMR-vaccinated group, and 85.2% (23/27) in unvaccinated group. In conclusion, measles-specific IgM antibody have been detected more than 1 month in most patients. The relatively high proportion of measles-specific IgM positivity may mean primary vaccine failure. To booster the antibody titers and to prevent measles epidemic in school-aged children, revaccination of measles should be considered.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.174-180
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• 2014

Purpose: This study was performed to assess the clinical and epidemiological changes after the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in Korea, as well as to determine the efficacy of the rotavirus vaccine among hospitalized rotaviral gastroenteritis patients over the past two years. Methods: We analyzed yearly and seasonal patterns of 1,165 inpatients who were hospitalized for rotaviral gastroenteritis under the age of 5 years between 2006 and 2013. We also conducted a survey among 460 gastroenteritis patients who were hospitalized between 2012 and 2013 regarding the rotavirus vaccination and the symptoms of gastroenteritis. Among those individuals surveyed, clinical indices were analyzed for 124 patients who were tested positive for the rotavirus antigen. Results: The incidence of Rotaviral gastroenteritis have decreased significantly by year 2010. After the introduction and widespread dissemination of the rotavirus vaccine, the onset of the disease and the seasonal peak have been delayed. Overall, the vaccinated group showed a lower rate of positivity than the unvaccinated group. Among the hospitalized rotaviral gastroenteritis patients, the vaccinated group had a shorter hospitalization period, less severe clinical symptoms of gastroenteritis, and better laboratory test results. Conclusions: After introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in Korea, there were two main trends observed: 1) the overall level of disease incidence was reduced; 2) the severity of rotaviral gastroenteritis cases also decreased. Based on this data, more children should receive vaccination in order to prevent the rotavirus infection and decrease the severity of rotaviral gastroenteritis.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.153-160
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• 2011

The specific antibody response of olive flounder, Paralichthys olivaceus to change in rearing-environmental conditions post immunization with antigen (bovine serum albumin, BSA) and different routes of antigen administration were investigated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). To test the effect of routes of antigen administration, flounder were injected intraperioneally or intramuscularlly with 1 mg of BSA. In addition, to test the effect of change in environmental condition post immunization, flounder were injected intraperioneally with 1 mg of antigen, and then were exposed to acute thermal change (the water temperature (WT) was decreased from $21^{\circ}C$ to $15^{\circ}C$ within 30 min and maintained at $15^{\circ}C$ for 3 h), handling (fish were caught and subsequently held out of water for 1 min) or heavy oil (76 g/200 L for 2 days). Consequently, there was no significant difference between intraperioneal (IP) and intramuscular (IM) injections except at 10 days post-immunization. With these results, it suggests that both 1M and IP injections may be used as route of vaccination. Furthermore, no significant difference was observed in the antibody response among the groups exposed to heavy oil, handling, sudden drop of WT and positive control except at 10 days post-immunization. From these results, it was confirmed that specific antibody response was not affected by the above mentioned rearing-environmental conditions, suggesting that vaccination can be employed at changing rearing-environmental conditions.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.135-146
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• 2001

Background : One of the important mechanisms responsible for a tumor escaping the immune response is an absence of the tumor associated antigen (TAA) on the cancer cell surface. To overcome this, combination gene therapy using a herpes simplex thymidine kinase (HSTK) gene, prototype of drug sensitizing gene, was conducted to enhance T AA release by cell destruction, as well as the cytokine genes for immune cell attraction. Methods : We investigated whether or not transduction with the adenovirus-HSTK (Ad-HSTK) enhanced the sensitivity of Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) to ganciclovir (GCV) and induced a bystander effect. A Tumor vaccine trial was performed using LLC with ad-HSTK$\pm$ad-GM-CSF$\pm$ad-IL-2 to determine if they exhibit some antitumor effect on established lung cancer xenografts. Results : LLC with ad-HSTK revealed a much higher sensitivity to ganciclovir (GCV). LLC transduced with ad-HSTK and/or ad-IL-2, ad-GM-CSF showed a lower in vivo tumorigenicity. In the treatment experiment, vaccination with LLC transduced with ad-HSTK, ad-IL-2, or ad-GM-CSF alone modestly suppressed the growth of an established tumor. Combined transduction with HSTK and GM-CSF induced stronger growth suppression of a established lung cancer, while HSTK and IL-2 combination transduction did not have any antitumor effect on individual transduction. Vaccination with LLC-HSTK-GM-CSF increased the infiltration of dendritic cells in the spleen. Conclusion : It was concluded that a tumor vaccine transduced with HSTK and GM-CSF induces strong antitumor immunity by activating the dendritic cells.