• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
• /
• v.51 no.4
• /
• pp.500-506
• /
• 2023

Carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP) is emerging as a worldwide public health threat. Recently, Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase-2 (KPC-2)-producing sequence type (ST) 307 was identified main clone of CRKP, and dissemination of ST307 was reported in South Korea. This study examined the molecular characteristic and antimicrobial resistance pattern of 50 CRKP isolated from a tertiary hospital in Daejeon, from March 2020 to December 2021. Epidemiological relationship was analyzed by Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and antimicrobial susceptibility test was determined using disk-diffusion method. PCR and DNA sequence analysis were performed to identify carbapenemase genes. CRKP infections were significantly more frequent in males and the patients aged ≥ 60 years. Among the 50 CRKP isolates, 46 isolates (92.0%) were multidrug-resistant (MDR), and 44 isolates (88.0%) were carbapenemase-producing K. pneumoniae (CPKP). The major carbapenemase type was KPC-2 (36 isolates, 72.0%) and New Delhi metalloenzyme-1 (NDM-1) and NDM-5 were identified in 7 isolates (14.0%) and 1 isolate (2.0%), respectively. In particular, 88.9% (32/36) of KPC-2-producing K. pneumoniae belonged to ST307, whereas 87.5% (7/8) of NDM-1,-5-producing K. pneumoniae belonged to non-ST307. These results suggest that proper infection control and effective surveillance network need to prevent not olny the spread of ST307, but also the development of non-ST307.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.37 no.4
• /
• pp.215-229
• /
• 2023

In this study, non-destructive technologies that can be applied to evaluate the integrity of valve materials, safety against internal pressure caused by corrosion, and the blocking function of large-diameter water valves during operation without requiring specimen collection or manpower entering the inside of the valve were tested to assess the reliability of the technologies and their suitability for field application. The results showed that the condition of the graphite structure inside the valve body can be evaluated directly through the optical microscope in the field without specimen collection for large-diameter water butterfly valves, and the depth of corrosion inside the valve body can be determined by array ultrasound and the tensile strength can be measured by instrumented indentation test. The reliability of each of these non-destructive techniques is high, and they can be widely used to evaluate the condition of steel or cast iron pipes that are significantly smaller in thickness than valves. Evaluation of blocking function of the valves with mixed gas showed that it can be detected even when a very low flow rate of mixed gas passes through the disk along with the water flow. Finally, as a result of evaluating the field applicability of non-destructive technologies for three old butterfly valves installed in the US industrial water pipeline, it was found that it is possible to check the material and determine the suitability of large-diameter water valves without taking samples, and to determine the corrosion state and mechanical strength. In addition, it was possible to evaluate safety through the measurement results, and it is judged that the evaluation of the blocking function using mixed gas will help strengthen preventive response in the event of an accident.

• Journal of the Health Care and Life Science
• /
• v.9 no.2
• /
• pp.303-308
• /
• 2021

Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of nosocomial infections and is one of the most commonly isolated bacterial species in the hospital and continues to be an important pathogens in both community and hospital-acquires infection. The purpose of this study is to investigate the carrier rate of S. aureus and MRSA in the community and molecular genetic characteristics of these organisms. The identification of S. aureus and MRSA were done by the procedures in Murray's manual of Clinical Microbiology and antibiotic susceptibility patterns by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute(CLSI). MRSA strains were confirms by oxacillin disk diffusion method. forty-six strains (71.9%) of S. aureus were isolated from the nasal specimens of 64 students in health science university. twenty-two strains (22%) of 46 S. aureus were resistant to penicillin and oxacillin. twenty-two strains of the 46 S. aureus isolates were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The mecA genes in MRSA were detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Community and nosocomial infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus are a significant problem worldwide. There continuous epidemiological study is to investigate the prevalence of MRSA in community acquired infections.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.73-81
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of surface treatment on the shear bond strength of zirconia ceramic to 3 resin cements. Materials and methods: A total of 143 disk-shaped Zirconia blocks (HASS Co., Gangneung, Korea) were randomly divided into three treatment groups: (1) only 50 ${\mu}m$ $Al_2O_3$ sandblasting, (2) 50 ${\mu}m$ $Al_2O_3$ sandblast and zircona liner, (3) 50 ${\mu}m$ $Al_2O_3$ sandblasting and Rocatec (3M ESPE, Seefeld, Germany). Bistite II (Tokuyama Dental Co., Japan), Panavia F (Kuraray Medical, Japan), and Superbond C&B (Sun Medical, Japan) were used to cement onto the zirconia. After 24h of storage in distilled water, shear bond strength was evaluated. High value group was re-tested after thermocycling at 5,000 cycles(5-$55^{\circ}C$). Shear bond strength data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA test and Post Hoc Test (${\alpha}$=.05). Shear bond strength data before and after thermocycling were analyzed with Independent sample T test (${\alpha}$=.05). Results: Super-bond C&B treated with Rocatec showed the most high shear bond strength. Super-bond C&B groups resulted in significantly higher than other cement groups (P<.05). Rocatec groups resulted in significantly higher than other surface treatment groups (P<.05). Shear bond strength has increased in Panavia F treated with Zirconia liner (P<.05). After thermocycling, shear bond strength was increased in Super-bond C&B treated with Rocatec but decreased in other groups (P<.05). Conclusion: Super-bond C&B cement resulted the highest shear bond strength and Rocatec system enhanced the shear bond strength. After thermocycling, shear bond strength has decreased in most resin cements except Super-bond C&B treated with Rocatec.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.40 no.12
• /
• pp.1781-1786
• /
• 2011

This study was conducted to investigate the cause of microbiological contamination in yogurt and evaluate the effect of physicochemical treatment on the growth inhibition of Hanseniaspora uvarum isolated from yogurt. The yeast strain Hanseniaspora uvarum Y1 was subjected to heat and pH treatments. H. uvarum Y1 was killed at $70^{\circ}C$ and $80^{\circ}C$ after 15 min and survived in a wide pH range from pH 2 to 9. However, it did not survive under pH 1 and over pH 10. In a disk diffusion susceptibility test on H. uvarum Y1, a clear zone (5 mm) of growth inhibition was observed upon treatment with electrolyzed water. The effect of ozone gas on the growth of H. uvarum Y1 was evaluated by viable cell count. Initial cell numbers of $10^2$ and $10^3$ CFU/mL of H. uvarum Y1 were completely killed by treatment for 10 and 30 min, respectively. H. uvarum Y1 was also sterilized by microwave treatment for 1 min. When treated with gamma-irradiation, the rate of killing of H. uvarum Y1 was proportional to the irradiation dose. and complete killing occurred at a dose of 50 kGy.

• Current Research on Agriculture and Life Sciences
• /
• v.1
• /
• pp.151-158
• /
• 1983

This study was performed to obtain a basic materials for improvement of garlic storage ability. The "Namhae jaerae" of southern strain and the "Dalsung jaerae" of northern strain were harvested by period, their stems were cut at 7cm and 25cm from disk and then placed them in blast drying system 12 hours per day at $40^{\circ}C$ for 4 days, or in natural state. The decrease rate of bulb weight was compared and rooting, sprouting, the rate of decay was investigated between natural dry(conventional method) and hot-air dry (blast drying system). The results obtained were as follows. In the case of the decrease rate of bulb weight after hot-air dry; 7cm plot" "Namhae jaerae" was similiar to one of 13th day of natural dry and 25cm plot 14th day. In "Dalsung jaerae" 7cm plot of early, common and late harvest was respectively similiar to one of 22nd, 18th and 16th day of natural dry, 25cm plot of early, common and late harvest showed the same decrease rate of bulb weight as that of 18th, 16th and 14th day of natural dry respectively. In the case of rooting and sprouting in sand culture at the early period of storage, hot-air dry showed more prolonged tendency than conventional drying method. In the case of clove state in the latter period of storage, number of eatable cloves was more numerous and number of decayed cloves were less in blast drying system than in conventional method.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.59-66
• /
• 2003

As a basic research material to make more efficient healthcare and health promotion for dental hygienists, this study intends to determine which factors may affect their awareness of occupational diseases. For this sake, this study attempted to investigate into a variety of literatures and data, and applied a questionnaire survey to 160 dental hygienists for about 5 months(from June to October 2003), who were all employed in domestic dental clinics or offices. As a result of analysis, this study can be concluded as follows: (1) The result of analyzing how dental hygienists recognized their occupational diseases showed that 'stiffness in muscle, neck or shoulder due to intensive use of specific physical regions' and 'stress resulting from the attributes of each task' reached the highest awareness(90.6%) of all, which was followed by 'lower eyesight due to detailed or even sophisticated tasks for many hours(65%)' and 'symptoms of ruptured disk due to standing tasks as dental hygienists do for many hours(62.5%).' (2) The result of analyzing how dental hygienists recognize their occupational diseases showed that their awareness averaged 7.28 points out of 14 points, which implies that their awareness of occupational diseases is not very high. Meanwhile, the result of examining how they recognize detrimental or harmful properties of given materials against human body showed that a majority of total respondents(74.4%) regarded given materials as detrimental to human body. (3) The result of examining how dental hygienists recognize their occupational diseases showed that a majority of total respondents(91.9%) identified their own occupational diseases. Many of total respondents(41.9%) pointed out that environmental improvement around workshop in each clinic or office should be foremost prerequisite to health and welfare for dental hygienists. Next, 34.4% of total respondents pointed out the necessity to perform in-house health diagnosis and examination on a regular basis, and 13.1% of total respondents thought it necessary to carry on healthcare education into harmful properties in the aspect of dental materiology, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.153-163
• /
• 2017

The objective of this study is to enhance the model's speed of estimating weather variables (e.g., minimum/maximum temperature, sunshine hour, PRISM (Parameter-elevation Regression on Independent Slopes Model) based precipitation), which are applied to the Agrometeorological Early Warning System (http://www.agmet.kr). The current process of weather estimation is operated on high-performance multi-core CPUs that have 8 physical cores and 16 logical threads. Nonetheless, the server is not even dedicated to the handling of a single county, indicating that very high overhead is involved in calculating the 10 counties of the Seomjin River Basin. In order to reduce such overhead, several cache and parallelization techniques were used to measure the performance and to check the applicability. Results are as follows: (1) for simple calculations such as Growing Degree Days accumulation, the time required for Input and Output (I/O) is significantly greater than that for calculation, suggesting the need of a technique which reduces disk I/O bottlenecks; (2) when there are many I/O, it is advantageous to distribute them on several servers. However, each server must have a cache for input data so that it does not compete for the same resource; and (3) GPU-based parallel processing method is most suitable for models such as PRISM with large computation loads.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.271-276
• /
• 2002

To develop a wrapping film, which suppresses the microbial decay through the storage and prolongs the selflife of fruits and vegetables, the antimicrobial packaging films were prepared and applied to the preservation of strtwberries and cucumbers. Low density polyethylene(LDPE) film of 50㎛ thickness was faricated with 1% of Scutellariae baicalensis extract. The LDPE film impregnated with Scutellariae baicalensis extract showed antimicrobial activity on the disk test against Bacillus cereus, Escherchia coli and Fusarium sp.. The antimicrobial film changed the color and light transmittance, but did not affect heat shrinkage, mechanical tensile strength and wattability. Strawberries and cucumbers were separately wrapped with packaging films in the state of closely-adhered packaging as well as modified atmosphere packaging(MAP). The wrapped strawberries and cucumbers were stored for 21 days at 5$\^{C}$ and for 40 days at l0$\^{C}$, respectively. For the packaged strawberries and cucumbers at 5$\^{C}$ and 10$\^{C}$, the LDPE film impregnated with Scutellariae baicalensis extract showed the reduced growth of total aerobic bacteria, molds and yeasts and did not give any negative effect on other quality attributes during storage in comparison with conttrol film without any additive.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.48 no.3
• /
• pp.217-224
• /
• 2016

Acinetobacter baumannii (A. baumannii) is prevalent in hospital environments and is an important opportunistic pathogen of nosocomial infection. It is known that this pathogen cause herd infection in hospitals, and the mortality rate is remarkably higher for patients infected with this pathogen and already have other underlying diseases. Herein, we investigated the antibiotic resistance rate and the type of resistance genes in 85 isolates of multi-drug resistant A. baumannii from the samples commissioned to laboratory medicine in two university hospitals-in hospital A and hospital B-located in Cheonan and Chungcheong provinces, respectively, in Korea. As a result, $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ and $bla_{OXA-51-like}$ were detected in 82 stains (96.5%). These 82 strains of $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ producing A. baumannii were confirmed with the ISAba1 gene found at the top of the $bla_{OXA-23-like}$ genes by PCR, inducing the resistance against carbapenemase. The armA, AME gene that induces the resistance against aminoglycoside was detected in 34 strains out of 38 strains from Hospital A (89.5%), and in 40 strains out of 47 strains from Hospital B (85.1%), while AMEs were found in 33 strains out of 38 strains from Hospital A (70.2%) and in 44 strains out of 47 strains in Hospital B (93.6%). Therefore, it was found that most multi-drug resistant A. baumannii from the Cheonan area expressed both acethyltransferase and adenyltransferase. This study investigated the multi-drug resistant A. baumannii isolated from Cheonan and Chungcheong provinces in Korea, and it is thought that the results of the study can be utilized as the basic information to cure multi-drug resistant A. baumannii infections and to prevent the spread of drug resistance.