• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2002

Ten Listeria monocytogenes were isolated from clinical specimens and mussels, and their physio-biochemical characters were compared with the type strains. Ribotyping was used as a taxonomic tool to determine molecular epidemiological marker. Chromosomal DNA was cleaved with restriction enzymes HindIII and EcoRI. The fragment were subjected to Southern blot hybridization with 165 rDNA from B. subtilis by PCR. EcoRI patterns of Listeria strains showed 6 to 8 bands ranging from 0.75 kb to 11 kb band and they were classified into 6 groups. In comparison, HindIII patterns revealed that 5 to 7 bands ranging from 2.75 kb to 7.75 kb band and they classified into 5 groups. The various patterns of Listeria strains were observed within genus, species and isolated sources. 165 rRNA gene restriction patterns (ribotyping) are useful in epidemiological and taxonomic study.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.520-528
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• 1997

This study was conducted to develop a food frequency questionnaire for an epidemiological study of dietary patterns and nutrient intake among Koeran American. A random sample of 101 Korean Americans between the ages of 17 and 71 residing in New York and New Jersey was interviewed by the method of 24-hour dietary recall. The foods Korean Americans consumed most frequently were rice (91% of the population), kimchee (81%), coffee(59%), bread(49%), apple(45%), bean sprouts (33%), milk (30%), dried anchovies (27%), eggs(27%), juice (26%), bulgogi, and soybean paste soup (24%, equally. The classification of food items standardized portion sizes were according to both Block's questionnaire and the standardized portion sizes by the Korean Nutrition Association. The value of this food frequency questionnaire is that it can accurately estimate dietary food patterns and nutrient intake among Korean Americans for epidemiological studies. It could also potentially be modified to study the relationship between specific diseases and food intake in the future.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.746-752
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• 2015

Background This study analyzed 100 consecutive patients with primary cutaneous melanoma over the course of 13 years to determine whether epidemiological differences correspond to different stages of the disease. We also investigated whether epidemiological characteristics affected the survival rate. Our results were compared with those of selected descriptive studies of melanoma in other East Asian populations, in order to determine whether cutaneous melanoma patterns are similar in East Asian populations. Methods The patients' medical records were reviewed retrospectively, and we analyzed the relationship of epidemiological characteristics to staging and survival rate. Additionally, papers from Hong Kong and Japan describing these phenomena in East Asian populations were subjected to a statistical comparison. Results The ratio of males to females was 1:1.8, and the foot was the most frequent tumor site (49%). Acral lentiginous melanoma occurred most frequently (55%). Nodular melanoma was associated with a higher stage. Stage III-IV tumors with Clark levels of IV-V were significantly associated with a low survival rate. A statistical analysis of comparable papers reported in Hong Kong and Japan showed similar results with regard to age, tumor location, and histopathological subtypes. Conclusions This study provides the first full epidemiological description of 100 consecutive cases of primary cutaneous melanoma in Korea, with results similar to those observed in other East Asian populations. Corresponding to previous findings, nodular melanoma tended to occur at a higher stage than other types, and tumors with high Clark levels and high stages showed a lower survival rate.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.15-41
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• 1999

This is an effort to review epidemiological research on developmental patterns of drinking behavior among youth from adolescence to young adulthood. Selected correlates for changes in drinking behavior include age, antisocial behavior, family influence, and sociodemographic characteristics such as gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status. An emphasis is given to the relationship between antisocial behavior and developmental patterns of drinking behavior. Also, this review regards observed particular patterns of drinking behavior as being contextualized by group to which individuals belong.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.179-183
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• 2005

Epidemiological characteristics of a total of 48 swine herd with diarrhea or a history of diarrhea in Gyeongsang-do between 1999 and 2000 were performed to evaluate the prevalence of Salmonella spp., their serotypes and antibiotic resistance patterns with respect to the different stages of swine production system. A total of 139 Salmonella spp. (21%) were isolated from 662 fecal samples and the overall herd prevalence of Salmonella spp. ranged from 12.5% to 88%. The average prevalence of Salmonella spp. from swine stages of suckling/nursery, grow/finisher and sow stage were 25.7%, 19.2% and 18.4%, respectively. Ten serotypes of Salmonella spp. were identified with a predominance of S. Typhimurium, S. Derby and S. Agona. Twenty-five isolates (18%) were found to be untypable. One hundred and two Salmonella isolates (73.4%) resistant to more than 1 antibiotic were characterized by 24 diverse resistance patterns, and their frequency of antibiotic resistance was highest in grow/finisher stage (83.3%). Resistance to tetracycline (TE; 67.6%), sulfamethoxazole (SU; 46.8%) and streptomycin (ST; 28%) was most common and the most common resistance patterns were TE SU (31.4%), TE (21.6%) and TE SU ST (20.6%) in order.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.21-37
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• 2001

Over the past few decades, dramatic socioeconomic developments have resulted in the change of epidemiological transition from infectious to chronic diseases as leading causes of death in Korea$^{1)}$ . Behavioral factors, particularly smoking, diet and activity patterns, alcohol consumptions are among the most prominent contributors to mortality.(omitted)

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.219-225
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• 2001

Phage typing is currently used for typing of Staphylococcus aureus strains beyond the species level in epidemiological studies. A total of 168 Staphylococcus aureus isolates from chicken meat and chicken by-products were phage-typed using the international bacteriophage set for typing Staphylococcus aureus of human origin. One hundred and forty-eight (88.79%) strains were phage-typeable (at least one phage produced 20 or more plaques of lysis). Lysis by phages of group Ⅲ was the mast frequent with 99 (58.93%) sensitive strains. This fact coincides with results of other authors. Twenty-nine different phage patterns were observed and three (95, 75/84 and 6/1030/W57) were most common. One hundred and thirty-two (89.19% of typeable strains) skewed these or indistinguishable (only one phage reaction difference) patterns. Twenty-six out of seventy chicken samples (37.14%) harboured more than one phage type of Staphylococcus aureus. This fact emphasizes the convenience of subtyping several Staphylococcus aureus isolates from the same sample in epidemiological studies. 80% of sausages and hamburgers contained the same Staphylococcus aureus phage types, which wore not found in any of the other food types. This fact suggests a cross contamination during the processing of these foods. Phages 6, 75, 84, 1030 and W57 skewed the greatest activity. None of the Staphylococcus aureus strains were sensitive to phages 47, 81 and 94.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.546-554
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• 2005

We assessed the genetic relations and epidemiological links among bloodstream isolates of Candida albicans, which were obtained from a university hospital over a period of five years. The 54 bloodstream isolates from the 38 patients yielded 14 different karyotypes, 29 different patterns after digestion with SfiI (REAG-S), and 31 different patterns after digestion with BssHII (REAG-B) when analyzed using three different pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) typing methods. In 11 patients with serial blood stream isolates, all strains from each patient had the same PFGE pattern. The dendrograms for all of the strains revealed that the distribution of similarity values ranged from 0.70 to 1.0 in the REAG-S patterns, and from 0.35 to 1.0 in the REAG-B patterns. Overall, the combination of the three different PFGE methods identified 31 distinct types, reflecting the results obtained using the REAG-B alone different. different Five PFGE types were shared among 22 isolates from 12 patients. These types of strains were more frequently associated with central venous catheter-related fungemia than the other 26 type strains $(92\%\;versus\;31\%;\;P<0.005)$. Of five PFGE types, four isolates were determined to be epidemiologically related: each of these types was primarily from two or three patients who had been hospitalized concurrently within the same intensive care unit. Our results suggest that the REAG-B constitutes perhaps the most useful PFGE method for investigating C. albicans candidemia and also shows that a relatively high proportion of C. albicans candidemia may be associated with exogenous acquisition of clonal strains.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.295-299
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• 2005

Staphylococcus aureus is an important animal and human pathogen implicated in a variety of disease including food-poisoning caused by staphyloccal enterotoxins (SEs). In order to investigate the difference in genomic types and to monitor the transmission of S. aureus isolates, a total of 25 S. aureus isolates from different sources were determined for their genotypic characteristics by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) in addition to their ability to enterotoxin production and antibiotic resistance patterns in this study. All the isolates were susceptible to amikacin, and the resistance pattern to ampicillin and penicillin were most common among 14 different patterns. Eleven of 24 isolates produced one of three SEs, SEA, SEC or SED. Sixteen representative PFGE patterns were obtained by Smal restriction fragments of S. aureus isolates. Analysis of dendrogram based on PFGE band patterns suggested that food-poisoning outbreaks be caused by the diverse sources of food, of which their raw materials were infected with S. aureus. Also, it could be concluded that PFGE was a powerful tool for epidemiological tracing of infection source for food-initiated outbreaks.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.638-643
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• 2003

Raw milk samples, and cow and chicken intestines were tested to isolate vancomycin-resistant, gram-positive bacteria. From these samples, we isolated seven vancomycin-resistant Streptococcus equinus, two vancomycin-resistant viridans Streptococcus and two vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium. The MICs of several antibiotics, including vancomycin, against these strains were tested. Seven isolates of S. equinus showed high level resistance to vancomycin and teicoplanin (＞100 $\mu$ g/mL). The cell wall thickness of these strains was compared with that of the sensitive strain by TEM and no differences were obserbed between these strains. We compared the strains of vancomycin-resistant Streptococcus equinus using PCR with Microbial Uniprimer Kit. We concluded that it is necessary to combine other methods in order to cluster and identify all isolates of S. equinus.