• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.207-216
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• 2022

Canine babesiosis has been scarcely investigated in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Although it is known that Babesia gibsoni is its primary causative agent, its clinical presentation has not been completely clarified in the ROK. Consequently, the aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical appearance of this parasitic infection based on the anamnesis of the patient and compare of hematological and biochemical test results. Four hundred whole blood samples from patients with a presumptive diagnosis of tick-borne disease were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify the Babesia spp. 18S rRNA gene and by a rapid diagnostic test kit (VetAll Laboratories^®) to detect B. gibsoni seroreactive animals. Thirty-six (9.0%) dogs were PCR-positive but only 24 (6.0%) were seropositive. The investigation revealed that all the courses of the disease are present in the ROK, with the acute course being predominant. The acute course tends to consist of inappetence, lethargy, pyrexia, gastrointestinal symptoms, and occasionally hematuria. It also occurs with common hematological abnormalities, such as thrombocytopenia and anemia, and to a lesser extent biochemical abnormalities, such as hyperbilirubinemia, hypoalbuminemia, and elevated liver enzymes. This research shows that B. gibsoni is an endemic hemoparasite capable of producing a variety of clinical manifestations in dogs. For its accurate diagnosis, a descriptive history of the clinical signs, hematology, and biochemical profile of the patient, along with a well-performing PCR assay, are essential. These findings will help in planning pragmatic preventive strategies against this potent threat in the ROK.

• International Journal of Human Ecology
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.87-100
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• 2012

Smart wear integrates computing technology into fabric or a garment for additional functionality. This research explored the attitudes and opinions of the use of smart wear from the viewpoint of caregivers. Thirty two individuals including care providers of children and adult family members with health problems participated in focus group interviews. Participants reported being interested in smart wear because of the potential to detect the location (GPS) of a dependent (e.g., child, elderly) and to monitor vital signs. Participants indicated perceived advantages of smart wear such as identifying geographical location and effectiveness. Perceived concerns mentioned were privacy/security issues and accuracy of data. Participants taking care of dependents without a specific disease were hesitant to adopt and pay for smart wear. However, caregivers of elderly individuals expressed positive adoption intentions and willingness to reasonably pay for smart wear. They indicated expectations that potential insurance would provide coverage for cost savings. Caregivers expressed the need of specific requirements for future adoption such as customizability, and comfort/safety. Specific to smart wear clothing, most respondents preferred it be an undershirt or a jacket with a sensor located in the shoulder area. The findings from this study can be used in product development, promotion and marketing of smart wear.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1042-1055
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• 2020

Objective: The ecosystem of an animal farm is composed of various elements, such as animals, farmers, plants, feed, soil, and microorganisms. A domesticated animal's health is largely connected with the reservoir of bacteria and viruses in animal farms. Although a few studies have focused on exploring the gut microbiome of animals, communities of microbiota and viruses in feedlots have not been thoroughly investigated. Methods: Here, we collected feces and dust samples (4 groups: cattle feces, C_F; horse feces, H_F; cattle dust, C_D; and horse dust, H_D) from cattle and horse farms sharing the same housing and investigated their microbiome/virome communities by Illumina sequencing. Results: Dust groups (C_D and H_D) showed higher microbial diversity than feces groups (C_F and H_F) regardless of animal species. From the microbial community analysis, all the samples from the four groups have major phyla such as Proteobacteria (min 37.1% to max 42.8%), Firmicutes (19.1% to 24.9%), Bacteroidetes (10.6% to 22.1%), and Actinobacteria (6.1% to 20.5%). The abundance of Streptococcus, which commonly recognized as equine pathogens, was significantly higher in the horse group (H_D and H_F). Over 99% among the classified virome reads were classified as Caudovirales, a group of tailed bacteriophages, in all four groups. Foot-and-mouth disease virus and equine adenovirus, which cause deadly diseases in cattle and horse, respectively, were not detected. Conclusion: Our results will provide baseline information to understand different gut and environmental microbial ecology between two livestock species.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.325-330
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• 1998

On the basis of the fact that the pycnidiospore of Botryosphaeria dothidea, the causal fungus of apple white rot is a typical water borne spore, a method for quantitative analysis of pycnidiospore dispersal from the warts produced on the diseased apple tree stem was developed. The warts on which cracks developed either on or around them were cut off at the base, and shaked in the water for 4hours at 2$0^{\circ}C$, in which condition the maximum number of spores were released. The volume of shaking solution was calculated as 1 ml per one wart. At the end of shaking, Trio, a household detergent was added to the shaking solution to the concentration of 0.1%, and shaked for additional 10 minutes at 35$^{\circ}C$ to take off the spores attached on the glass ware. One milliliter of the spore suspension thus prepared were passed through transparent membrane filter (pore size : 3.0 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$), and the spores attached on the filter were counted under a microscope ($\times$200) after staining them with lactophenol supplemented with aniline blue. The results thus obtained were statistically consistent when at least 30 warts were used simultaneously in single shaking. This method can be applicable in the elucidation of ecology of sporulation and spore dispersal, and also in the screening of the sporulation inhibitor which can be used in the control of the disease by reducing the inoculum density.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.560-568
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• 2011

Consumption of a diet consistent with dietary guidelines is believed to have a beneficial effect on the prevention of chronic diseases and the promotion of general health. This study was conducted to explore the relationship between adherence to the Korean Food Guidance System (KFGS), which was based on the 2010 revised KDRIs, and the risk of metabolic abnormalities. Five hundred and ninety-six Korean adults between 30 and 59 years of age were recruited by advertisement to the Bundang Jesaeng General Hospital (BJGH), and those not taking regular medications and without diagnoses of fulminant disease were included. Data were collected on anthropometric measurements, diagnostic parameters for metabolic syndrome (MetS), and 3-day dietary intakes from individuals in the study. The number of servings consumed from each food group was compared to the KFGS recommended servings for each of the 6 food groups. Poor adherence to the recommendations for servings of milk and dairy products (OR: 2.038, 1.128-3.682) was associated with a higher risk of MetS, and poor adherence to the guidelines for fruit consumption (OR: 1.849, 1.027-3.329) was associated with a higher risk for the existence an elevated waist circumference. Conversely, the consumption of meat, fish, eggs, and beans above the recommended number of servings was associated with a lower risk of having an elevated waist circumference (OR: 0.523, 0.288-0.950), and the consumption of vegetables above the recommended number of servings was associated with a reduced risk of having elevated fasting glucose (OR: 0.533, 0.298-0.954). These results suggest that adherence to the KFGS guidelines helps to prevent the development of MetS, but this association needs to be confirmed by prospective studies.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.578-584
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• 2017

Purpose: Excess intake of sodium is a major diet-related risk factor for human diseases including hypertension and cancer as well as obesity and inflammation. However, findings are still controversial, and evidence is lacking in Koreans. Therefore, for better understanding of the role of dietary sodium intake in disease etiology, this study investigated the effects of dietary sodium intake on adiposity, inflammation, and hormones in Koreans. Methods: A total of 80 males and females joined the study. The general characteristics and dietary intake data were investigated by trained interviewers using a questionnaire and 24-h dietary recall, respectively. For the markers of adiposity, body weight, body mass index, percent of body fat, visceral fat area, and waist and hip circumference were measured. For the inflammation and hormone markers, leptin, adiponectin, insulin, tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$, and interleukin-6 were also analyzed. Results: Multivariate linear regression analyses suggested that dietary sodium intake was not associated with adiposity. However, dietary sodium showed a significant association with insulin level: Plasma insulin concentration increased with sodium intake independent of other dietary intake or percent of body fat (${\beta}=0.296$, adjusted $r^2=0.276$, p < 0.01). Other markers for inflammation and hormonal responses were not associated with dietary sodium intake. Conclusion: Findings suggested that dietary sodium intake may be a critical modifying factor in the level of plasma insulin. However, it showed a limited effect on obesity and other inflammation markers and hormone levels. These findings should be confirmed in larger, well-designed investigations.

• Asian Journal of Turfgrass Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.177-183
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• 2011

The susceptibility of cultivars of three bentgrass species (creeping, colonial, and velvet bentgrass) was evaluated on detached leaves assays with pink snow mold 9 isolates caused by Microdochum nivale in Petri dishes and whole plants under controlled conditions. The pink snow mold isolates obtained from infected turfgrasses on golf courses in Wisconsin were tested on response of fungicides and temperature. Detached leaf assay and susceptibility of bentgrass cultivars were evaluated with potted adult seeding during 80 days. Nine isolates were susceptible to two fungicides and were significantly different among isolates. Mycelial growth was varied in response of temperatures among isolates. There were significant differences in development and colonization of the fungus on detached leaf assay among bentgrass species include culvitars. There were significant differences on whole plants in disease severities among the three bentgrass species, particularly between tetraploids (creeping and colonial) and diploid (velvet) species, and among cultivars within each species, indicating that there are varying levels of susceptibility in species and cultivars to M. nivale. This study could be applied to evaluate the susceptibility of bentgrass to pink snow mold and also to predict a prospective evaluation of bentgrass cultivars to pink snow mold in fields in a breeding program.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

Responses of Botryosphaeria dothidea to interrupted wetness periods were investigated under in vivo and in vitro conditions. Conidia of B. dothidea were allowed to germinate on apple fruits under wetting condition at $25^{\circ}C$ for 5 hr. They were air-dried for 0, 1, 2 or 4 hr, and then rewetted at $25^{\circ}C$ for 5 hr. Following an initial wetness period of 5 hr, 83% of the conidia germinated. The percent conidial germination increased to 96% when wetting was extended continuously another 5 hr. However, no further conidial germination was observed when wetting was interrupted by dry periods of 1, 2 and 4 hr, resulting in 83, 81 and 82%, respectively. The mean length of the germ tubes was $37{\mu}m$ after 5 hr of wetting and elongated to $157{\mu}m$ after 10 hr of continuous wetting. On the other hand, interruption of wetting by a dry period of 1 hr or longer after the 5 hr of initial wetting arrested the germ tube elongation at approximately $42{\mu}m$ long. Prolonged rewetting up to 40 hr did not restore germ tube elongation on slide glasses under substrate treatments. Model simulation using weather data sets revealed that ending infection periods by a dry period of at least 1 hr decreased the daily infection periods, avoiding the overestimation of infection warning. This information can be incorporated into infection models for scheduling fungicide sprays to control apple white rot with fewer fungicide applications.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.57-61
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• 2017

Purpose : The purpose of study was to find out the environmental risk factor that can be easily occurred imbalance muscle activities according to direction for using the ramp during one legged standing. Method : The subjects were 20 normal adults with a mean age of $23.15{\pm}2.14years$ and a Body Mmass Index (BMI) of $22.74{\pm}1.07$. Participants were measured muscle activities on vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, tibialis anterior, peroneus longus during one legged stance at four conditions ramp (down ramp, up ramp, medial ramp, lateral ramp). The statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS(Ver. 23) and p-value less than .05 were considered statistically significant for all cases. Result : In this study, the activity of the lower extremity muscle and the ratio of the vastus medial and lateral muscles according to the direction of use of the ramp were investigated. The changes in the muscle activity of the lower limbs along the direction of the ramp were significantly different between the vastus medial muscle and the peroneus longus muscle. Conclusion : For a short time on a ramp or a pedestrian crossing, a clerk in a ramp can move or stand by placing the lower limbs in various directions, but if performed in consideration of the individual's disease characteristics or unstable foot position, It is thought that there will be an effect to prevent on the ankle and knee unstability.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.427-437
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• 2019

Background: Climate change is believed to be continuously affecting ticks by influencing their habitat suitability. However, we attempted to model the climate change-induced impacts on future genus Rhipicephalus distribution considering the major environmental factors that would influence the tick. Therefore, 50 tick occuance points were taken to model the potential distribution using maximum entropy (MaxEnt) software and 19 climatic variables, taking into account the ability for future climatic change under representative concentration pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5, were used. Results: MaxEnt model performance was tested and found with the AUC value of 0.99 which indicates excellent goodness-of-fit and predictive accuracy. Current models predict increased temperatures, both in the mid and end terms together with possible changes of other climatic factors like precipitation which may lead to higher tick-borne disease risks associated with expansion of the range of the targeted tick distribution. Distribution maps were constructed for the current, 2050, and 2070 for the two greenhouse gas scenarios and the most dramatic scenario; RCP 8.5 produced the highest increase probable distribution range. Conclusions: The future potential distribution of the genus Rhipicephalus show potential expansion to the new areas due to the future climatic suitability increase. These results indicate that the genus population of the targeted tick could emerge in areas in which they are currently lacking; increased incidence of tick-borne diseases poses further risk which can affect cattle production and productivity, thereby affecting the livelihood of smallholding farmers. Therefore, it is recommended to implement climate change adaptation practices to minimize the impacts.