• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2007

The bacterial diversity inherent to the biofilm community structure of a modified rotating biological contactor wastewater treatment process, referred to as the Rotating Activated Bacillus Contactor (RABC) process, was characterized in this study, via both culture-dependent and culture-independent methods. On the basis of culture-dependent methods, Bacillus sp. were found to exist in large numbers on the biofilm (6.5% of the heterotrophic bacteria) and the microbial composition of the biofilms was quite simple. Only three phyla were identified-namely, the Proteobacteria, the Actinobacteria (High G+C Gram-positive bacteria), and the Firmicutes (Low G+C Gram-positive bacteria). The culture-independent partial 16S rDNA sequence analysis revealed a considerably more diverse microbial composition within the biofilms. A total of eight phyla were recovered in this case, three of which were major groups: the Firmicutes (43.9%), the Proteobacteria (28.6%), and the Bacteroidetes (17.6%). The remaining five phyla were minor groups: the Planctomycetes (4.4%), the Chlorobi (2.2%), the Actinobacteria (1.1%), the Nitrospirae (1.1%), and the Verrucomicrobia (1.1%). The two most abundant genera detected were the endospore-forming bacteria (31.8%), Clostridium and Bacillus, both of which are members of the Firmicutes phylum. This finding indicates that these endospore-forming bacteria successfully colonized and dominated the RABC process biofilms. Many of the colonies or clones recovered from the biofilms evidenced significantly high homology in the 16S rDNA sequences of bacteria stored in databases associated with advanced wastewater treatment capabilities, including nitrification and denitrification, phosphorus accumulation, the removal of volatile odors, and the removal of chlorohydrocarbons or heavy metals. The microbial community structures observed in the biofilms were found to correlate nicely with the enhanced performance of advanced wastewater treatment protocols.

• Clean Technology
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.141-152
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• 2015

As environmental issues are emerging, bio-plastic suppliers in leading countries have been foreseeing the strong needs for environment-friendly materials such as eco-packing materials due to increased attention and regulation on recycle. To catch up with the demand, various types of bio-plastics based on natural feedstocks were developed and released on a market. These bio-plastic products drew the great attention even in domestic industries. At present, international oil price fluctuation and heavy charge on waste raise the unit cost of production and disposal expense of conventional plastic materials. These conditions make bio-plastic an alternative, because it is not restrained by oil prices and problem in the disposal. It is also expected that bio-plastic will be applied to various types of products including containers, industrial supplies, disposables, and medical supplies. However, the bio-plastic is still in its infancy, thus more research and understanding should be followed to put it to application. Bio-plastic is considered as environment-friendly material with high potential which has the advantages of production and disposal.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.139-146
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• 2014

Accurate and rapid diagnosis of dermatophytosis, a disease whose prevalence has been steadily increased, is important for successful treatment. Current laboratory methods for diagnosing dermatophytosis rely on KOH mount and fungal culture method. However, these methods have low sensitivity and are time-consuming (2~4 weeks to diagnosis). In our previous study, a rapid molecular diagnostic assay (PCR-reverse blot hybridization assay, REBA) was developed to identify the following 6 main species of dermatophytes: Trichophyton rubrum, T. mentagrophytes, T. tonsurans, Microsporum canis, M. gypseum, and Epidermophyton floccosum. However, the REBA required more evaluation to validate its use in clinical examinations. The aim of the present study was to evaluate and validate the ability of the PCR-REBA to successfully identify dermatophytes in clinical isolates from dermatophytosis patients. Both conventional identification methods and the PCR-REBA were used to assess the presence of species of dermatophytes in 148 clinical isolates. The results of the two approaches were compared, and discrepancies between the two approaches were resolved by fungal ITS1 sequence analysis. T. rubrum was the most prevalent dermatophyte identified by conventional identification methods (118/148, 79.7%) and the PCR-REBA (131/148, 88.4%). The overall rate of consistency between conventional identification methods and the PCR-REBA was 79.0% (117/148 samples). Fungal ITS1 sequence analysis showed that PCR-REBA results were correct for 93.5% (29/31) of the discrepant samples. The PCR-REBA is rapid, sensitive, and highly specific compared with conventional identification methods. Thus, the PCR-REBA is a potentially useful tool for identifying dermatophytes in clinical settings.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-26
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• 1998

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) is an autosomal dominant neuromuscular disorder which has been clinically shown to cause progressive weakness and result in atrophy of the facial muscles, shoulder girdle and upper arm muscles. The responsible gene for the FSHD has been located on chromosome 4q35-qter. The probes p13E-11 and pFR-1 detect DNA rearrangements associated with FSHD as under 28 kb DNA fragment in genomic southern analysis digested with EcoRI and the fragment contains 3.3 kb Kpn I tandem repeats. In this study, 4 fetuses with a family history of FSHD were analysed by genomic southern hybridization analysis with probes to determine whether they carried the deleted region. Of the 4 fetuses, three of them had mothers who were FSHD patients and the other one had a father affected with FSHD. After 10-11 weeks of gestation, we performed chorionic villi sampling and extracted DNA from uncultured and cultured tissue cells for the direct DNA analysis. The result of the southern analysis showed two fetuses having received about 15-18 kb of deleted genes from the father and the mother respectively, and found to be FSHD patients. The other two fetuses were shown to have two normal alleles from the parents and found to be normal. Two pregnancies which were determined to be normal were carried to term delivering two healthy babies.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.241-247
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to compare the ultrasound gel container washing methods for the sterilization of contaminants and to find the useful methods for the prevention of infection caused by the ultrasonic gel containers. In this experiment, a 250 mL ultrasonic gel container was used, and the ultrasonic gel used was a non-sterile gel (ECO GEL 99, SeungWon Medical, Korea). In order to evaluate the degree of contamination, new 250 mL 15 containers were divided into 5 groups to perform five types of washing by no treatment, washing with water, washing with soap, washing with bottle cleaner and high disinfection level washing. After the washing process, filled the gel container with gel and after 2 weeks, the number of colonies in the gel container was sampled repeatedly twice in the same ultrasonic laboratory and compared before and after washing. As a result of among the five cleaning methods used in this study, 87.2% and 88.9% of the soapy water washing (p = 0.028) and high level washing (p = 0.027) showed significant bacterial reduction rates, respectively. Our findings conclusively an ultrasonic gel container cleaning method for removing contaminants has been found to be an effective sterilization method at a low cost with a soapy water cleaning method. Therefore, it is expected that it will be helpful to prevent the infection caused by the ultrasonic gel container by suggesting the sterilization cleaning method that is practically useful in this study.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.83-88
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• 2020

Recently, radiation shielding sheets made of eco-friendly materials have been widely used in medical institutions. The shielding sheet is processed into a solid form by thermoforming by mixing a shielding material with a polymer material. The base is resin-based and has a limit in tensile strength, and for this purpose, fibers such as non-woven fabrics are used on the surface. The shielding sheet process technology has a problem in that the tensile strength rapidly decreases when the content of the shielding material is increased to increase the shielding performance. In order to improve this, this study intends to compare and evaluate the method of laminating and coating the fibers in the sheet process. In comparison of the three types of sheets, there was no difference in shielding performance between the fiber-coated sheet and the compression sheet, but there was a large difference in tensile strength.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.383-391
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• 2016

Recently, the hospital infection has emerged as a major concern in the media. In everyday life, but not good if the infection refers to infection with the population living in the hospital. The case with which the equipment is used in a hospital if the person mediating and mediated, patients sometimes with the pathogen causing the disease to their patients. disease in our country for some time, and Mers is finished, large hospitals are taking place is a change in hygiene and operating systems. The Mers is spreading visits and influenced the patient or patient care. And the hygiene to limit the visiting hours for hospital infection prevention and stabilization of the patient. The infection, especially infection among patients and patients but a number of factors, from the emergency room or intensive care unit of frequent hospital contacts between patients with infection and of course, furniture for storing multiple people to use in the ward also become a source of infection. Hospital, another patient is a Cabinet that used to accept the next patient will cause a secondary infection and the role of infectious agents. Therefore, the general public will have a nervousness in the hospital, also medical care needed to avoid the problem occurred. This study examines such issues for the Cabinet of the hospital with a secondary infection is concerned, eco-friendly and hygienic storage furniture and one-off development that will help to improve the hospital environment for research purposes.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.10
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• pp.1589-1598
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• 2015

In this work, the anti-aging skin effects of bacteriochlorophyll a isolated from Rhodobacter sphaeroides are first reported, with notably low cytotoxicity in the range of 1% to 14% in adding 0.00078 (% (w/w)) of the extracts, compared with the normal growth of both human dermal fibroblast and keratinocyte cells without any treatment as a control. The highest production of procollagen from human fibroblast cells (CCD-986sk) was observed as 221.7 ng/ml with 0.001 (% (w/w)) of bacteriochlorophyll a, whereas 150 and 200 ng/ml of procollagen production resulted from addition of 0.001 (% (w/w)) of the photosynthetic bacteria. The bacteriochlorophyll-a-induced TNF-α production increased to 63.8%, which was lower secretion from HaCaT cells than that from addition of 0.00005 (% (w/w)) of bacteriochlorophyll a. Additionally, bacteriochlorophyll a upregulated the expression of genes related to skin anti-aging (i.e., keratin 10, involucrin, transglutaminase-1, and MMPs), by up to 4-15 times those of the control. However, crude extracts from R. sphaeroides did not enhance the expression level of these genes. Bacteriochlorophyll a showed higher antioxidant activity of 63.8% in DPPH free radical scavenging than those of water, ethanol, and 70% ethanol extracts (14.0%, 57.2%, and 12.6%, respectively). It was also shown that the high antioxidant activity could be attributed to the skin anti-aging effect of bacteriochlorophyll a, although R. sphaeroides itself would not exhibit significant anti-aging activities.

• Journal of East-West Nursing Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2012

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to verify the influence of health point system on the lifestyle among the patients with chronic diseases listed in iCDMS, a project of the Incheon Metropolitan Center for Chronic Disease Control and Prevention. Methods: The data were collected 1,000 persons among the patients listed in iCDMS from March 16, 2009 to December 21, 2010 by telephone survey. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, ${\chi}^2$-test, odds ratio and logistic regression with the SPSS 18.0 program. Results: The higher the percentage of the accumulation of the points of necessary medical examinations they have, the better the lifestyle the participants practice moderation in drinking, exercise, and diet (p<.05). Also the higher the percentage e accumulative points of education and visit, the stronger the intention to improve the lifestyle such as for example, receiving the guidance of no smoking, giving up drinking, or being conscious of nutrition and obesity (p<.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that the motivation through an incentive system can increase self-care make an effect on the care of patients with chronic diseases.

• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.164-169
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• 2010

CpG-DNA, which contains unmethylated CpG dinucleotides in the context of specific sequences, has remarkable and diverse immunological effects, including induction of proinflammatory cytokine expression and regulation of the Th1/Th2 immune response. Here, we examined the immunostimulatory activities of double-stranded (ds) CpG-DNA in the human B cell line RPMI8226. To investigate whether dsCpG-DNA stimulates immune cells, we constructed a plasmid containing repeated dsCpG-DNA and produced dsCpG-DNA by PCR amplification and EcoR I digestion. PCR-amplified dsCpG-DNA alone did not have immmunostimulatory activity. However, dsCpGDNA encapsulated with lipofectin induced IL-8 promoter activation, HLA-DRA expression, and IL-8 expression in a CG sequence-independent manner. The effects of encapsulated dsCpGDNA were independent of minor endotoxin contamination. These findings suggest the potential use of dsCpG-DNA as a therapy for immune response regulation.