• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.442-453
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• 2021

Purpose: This study was conducted to assess public awareness and policy challenges faced by practicing nurses. Methods: After collecting nurse-related news articles published before and after 'the Thanks to You Challenge' campaign (between December 31, 2019, and July 15, 2020), keywords were extracted via preprocessing. A three-step method keyword analysis, latent Dirichlet allocation topic modeling, and keyword network analysis was used to examine the text and the structure of the selected news articles. Results: Top 30 keywords with similar occurrences were collected before and after the campaign. The five dominant topics before the campaign were: pandemic, infection of medical staff, local transmission, medical resources, and return of overseas Koreans. After the campaign, the topics 'infection of medical staff' and 'return of overseas Koreans' disappeared, but 'the Thanks to You Challenge' emerged as a dominant topic. A keyword network analysis revealed that the word of nurse was linked with keywords like thanks and campaign, through the word of sacrifice. These words formed interrelated domains of 'the Thanks to You Challenge' topic. Conclusion: The findings of this study can provide useful information for understanding various issues and social perspectives on COVID-19 nursing. The major themes of news reports lagged behind the real problems faced by nurses in COVID-19 crisis. While the press tends to focus on heroism and whole society, issues and policies mutually beneficial to public and nursing need to be further explored and enhanced by nurses.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.83-95
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• 2016

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major medical challenge affecting around 200 million people worldwide. The main site of HCV replication is the hepatocytes of the liver. HCV is a positive enveloped RNA virus from the flaviviridae family. Six major HCV genotypes are implicated in the human infection. In developed countries the children are infected mainly through vertical transmission during deliveries, while in developing countries it is still due to horizontal transmission from adults. Minimal nonspecific and brief symptoms are initially found in approximately 15% of children. Acute and chronic HCV infection is diagnosed through the recognition of HCV RNA. The main objective for treatment of chronic HCV is to convert detected HCV viremia to below the detection limit. Children with chronic HCV infection are usually asymptomatic and rarely develop severe liver damage. Therefore, the benefits from current therapies, pegylated-Interferon plus ribavirin, must be weighed against their adverse effects. This combined treatment offers a 50-90% chance of clearing HCV infection according to several studies and on different HCV genotype. Recent direct acting antiviral (DAA) drugs which are well established for adults have not yet been approved for children and young adults below 18 years. The most important field for the prevention of HCV infection in children would be the prevention of perinatal and parenteral transmission. There are areas of focus for new lines of research in pediatric HCV-related disease that can be addressed in the near future.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.131-138
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• 2009

The present study surveyed the prevalence of natural infection of the sheep esphagus muscle with sarcocysts of Sarcocystis ovicanis and examined induction of protective immunity using UV-attenuated sporocysts. The overall prevalence of natural infection of the sheep was 95%. Infectivity of the collected sarcocysts was confirmed by shedding of sporulated oocysts after feeding infected esophageal tissues to dogs. To induce protective immunity, lambs were immunized 3 times (once a week) with $1.5{\times}10^4$ sporocysts exposed to UV-light for 30min (UV-30 group) or 60 (UV-60 group) min and then challenged with $1.5{\times}10^4$ normal sporocysts at the 3rd week post the 1st vaccination. These lambs showed high survival and less clinical signs of sarcocystosis than normal infected lambs. The attenuated sporocysts produced abnormal cysts; small in size and detached from the muscle fiber. These abnormalities were more obvious in UV-60 group than UV-30 group. Also, the $IFN-{\gamma}$ level and lymphocyte percentage were increased while the total leukocyte count was decreased in the UV-60 group compared with other groups. The high level of $IFN-{\gamma}$ may be an evidence for the induction of Th1 responses which may have protective effect against a challenge infection.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.247-252
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• 1985

In the present study, the effect of primary infection to reinfection with Ascaris suum larvae was experimented in mouse model. Mice were challenged with 1,000 infective stage eggs of Ascaris suum. The embryonated eggs were directly introduced into stomach of mice. Reinfection was performed at 50 days after the primary infection with same method as primary infection. Mice were sacrificed 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 days after infection in both groups respectively. Larvae collected from livers and lungs with Baermann's apparatus were enumerated and measured after sacrifice. Sera of mice were also collected at same time. The results of the experiment were as follows: With antigen prepared from coelomic fluid of adult Ascaris suum and sera collected from mice before reinfection, the production of antibody in experimental mice was confirmed by the gel-diffusion technique. In the livers of reinfected mice, the larvae were recovered up to 10 days after challenge, otherwhile in the primary infected mice, the larvae were observed up to 7 days. The maximum number of larvae were observed in the lungs of primary infected mice on 10 days after inoculation. In the lungs of reinfected mice, maximum number of larvae were recovered on 7 days after, only few larvae were recovered on 10 days after reinfection. As regards the growth of the larvae, the third stage larvae, over $500{\mu\textrm{m}}$ in length, appeared in livers at 5 days after reinfection, but it couldn't be found on 7 days and 10 days after challenge. The third stage larvae continuously developed were observed in lungs of mice from 5 days after reinfection. In conclusion, it was found that development of larvae in livers of immune mice were probably repressed by the immune mechanisms being rises in livers and defence mechanism is also acting by interfering with the process of larval penetration into the lung from the liver.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.543-547
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• 2019

Toxoplasma gondii can infect humans worldwide, causing serious diseases in pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals. T. gondii rhoptry protein 13 (ROP13) is known as one of the key proteins involved in host cell invasion. In this study, we generated virus-like particles (VLPs) vaccine expressing T. gondii rhoptry ROP13 and investigated VLPs vaccine efficacy in mice. Mice immunized with ROP13 VLPs vaccine elicited significantly higher levels of T. gondii-specific IgG, IgG1, IgG2a, and IgA antibody responses following boost immunization and challenge infection, whereas antibody inductions were insignificant upon prime immunization. Differing immunization routes resulted in differing antibody induction, as intranasal immunization (IN) induced greater antibody responses than intramuscular immunization (IM) after boost and challenge infection. IN immunization induced significantly higher levels of IgG and IgA antibody responses from feces, antibody-secreting cells (ASCs), $CD4^+$ T, $CD8^+$ T cells and germinal center B cell responses in the spleen compared to IM immunization. Compared to IM immunization, IN immunization resulted in significantly reduced cyst counts in the brain as well as lesser body weight loss, which contributed to better protection. All of the mice immunized through either route survived, whereas all na?ve control mice perished. These results indicate that the ROP13 VLPs vaccine could be a potential vaccine candidate against T. gondii infection.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.8-17
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• 2012

Background: Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of severe lower respiratory tract diseases in infancy and early childhood. Despite its importance as a pathogen, there is no licensed vaccine against RSV yet. The attachment glycoprotein (G) of RSV is a potentially important target for protective antiviral immune responses. Recombinant baculovirus has been recently emerged as a new vaccine vector, since it has intrinsic immunostimulatory properties and good bio-safety profile. Methods: We have constructed a recombinant baculovirus-based RSV vaccine, Bac-RSV/G, displaying G glycoprotein, and evaluated immunogenicity and protective efficacy by intranasal immunization of BALB/c mice with Bac-RSV/G. Results: Bac-RSV/G efficiently provides protective immunity against RSV challenge. Strong serum IgG and mucosal IgA responses were induced by intranasal immunization with Bac-RSV/G. In addition to humoral immunity, G-specific Th17- as well as Th1-type T-cell responses were detected in the lungs of Bac-RSV/G-immune mice upon RSV challenge. Neither lung eosinophilia nor vaccine-induced weight loss was observed upon Bac-RSV/G immunization and subsequent RSV infection. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that intranasal administration of baculovirus-based Bac-RSV/G vaccine is efficient for the induction of protection against RSV and represents a promising prophylactic vaccination regimen.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2014

The resistance against white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) infection in wild marine crab Gaetice depressus by the immunization of a recombinant glutathione-S-transferase (GST) fused VP28 protein (GST-VP28) was evaluated. The cumulative mortalities of GST-VP28 injected groups were lower than those of the control groups at 10 days of post-challenge, and the time to death of 50% crab ($TD_{50}$) was delayed by the immunization using GST-VP28. The group boosted with GST-VP28 after 2 weeks of primary immunization clearly showed longer $TD_{50}$ than non-boosted group against challenge with WSSV. This result suggests that boosting with the antigen protein elicit stronger immune responses similar to adaptive immune responses of vertebrates. However, the short $TD_{50}$ was observed in the group challenged at 3 weeks post boosting comparing to the group challenged at 1 week post boosting. This suggests that the protective strength of immunization decreased by the time.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.191-194
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• 2011

Sparganosis is a tissue invading helminthiasis infecting intermediate hosts, including humans. Strong immune responses are expected to occur in early phases of infection. Thus, we investigated cytokine expressions in splenic dendritic cells and in sera after experimental infection of mice. In splenic dendritic cells, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$ expression peaked at week 1 and week 3 post -infection (PI), respectively, and also early phase (week 2 PI) depressed cytokine expression was noticed. Serum IL-$1{\beta}$ concentration increased significantly at week 2 PI and peaked at week 6 PI, and that of TNF-${\alpha}$ peaked at week 6 PI. These results showed that pro-inflammatory cytokines, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$, are chronologically regulated in mouse sparganosis.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.61-75
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• 1992

Experimental infection method for Edwardsiellosis was studied to imitate histopathologically natural infections in the Tilapia Oreochrimis niloticus. Prior to the bacterial challenge, the intestine of tilapia was damaged by 0.2ml of 30% hydrogen peroxide introduced through a silicon tube which was inserted 4 to 5cm into the intestine from anus. E. tarda was mixed a 10% Gum arabia and administered into the stomach by a cannula 20 hours after the hydrogen peroxide treatment. Bacterial doses used were from $4.2{\times}10^6$ to $6.4{\times}10^\;CFU$/fish. Fish 72 hours after the challenged showed swollen and erosious lesion and focal necrosis with bacterial-eaden inflammatory cell in the Liver, Spleen, Kidney. Fish 96 and 120 hours after bacterial challenge were moribund showing swollen Liver, Spleen, Kidney and focal accumulation of macrophages and production of granulomas in the infected lesions.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.323-329
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• 2016

The effects of dietary antioxidant [saltwort (SW), leek (LK), and dandelion (DD)] supplementation on the growth, body composition, serum chemistry, and challenge test results of juvenile rockfish, Sebastes schlegelii, were determined. In an experiment, 320 fish were randomly distributed into eight, 50-L flow-through tanks (40 fish per tank). Four experimental diets were prepared: the control diet (Con) with synthetic antioxidant: and diets with SW, LK, or DD from natural sources. Each diet was randomly assigned to duplicate tanks of fish, which were hand-fed to satiation twice daily for 8 weeks. After the 8-week feeding trial, 20 fish from each tank were artificially infected with Streptococcus iniae and monitored for 6 days. The dietary additives did not affect survival, weight gain, specific growth rate, feed efficiency (FE), protein efficiency ratio (PER), or plasma chemistry. However, the cumulative mortality of fish fed the SW, LK and DD diets was lower than that of fish fed the control diet beginning 4 days after infection. In conclusion, dietary supplementation with SW, LK, and DD did not affect the growth, FE, PER, or plasma chemistry of rockfish. However, dietary inclusion of SW, LK, and DD lowered the mortality of rockfish following infection with S. iniae.