• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.1471-1475
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• 2014

Background: The epidemiological patterns of cancer incidence have been investigated widely in western countries. Nevertheless, information is quite limited in Jiangxi province, southern China. Materials and Methods: All data were reported by 6 population-based cancer registries in Jiangxi Province. The results were presented as incidence rates of cases by site (ICD-10), sex, crude rate (CR), age-standardized rates (ASRs) and truncated incidence rate (TR) per 100,000 person-years, using the direct method of standardization to the world population. Results: 8,765 new cancer cases were registered in our study during the period 2009-2011. Diagnosis of cancer was based on histopathology in 61.0%, clinical or radiology findings in 4.87% and death certificate only (DCO) in 3.0% of the cases. The median age at diagnosis was 62.0 years (mean, 61; standard deviation, 15). The ASRs were 170.8 per 100,000 for men and 111.2 for women. The ASRs for all invasive cancers from the urban areas (145.7 per 100,000) was higher than that of rural areas (137.1). Incidence rates for lung cancer were higher in rural (35.8) than in urban areas (27.0). Similarly, relatively high rates were observed for stomach cancer in rural (20.1) relative to urban areas (15.5). Conclusions: Our results reveal that the most common cancers were breast and lung in women and lung and liver in men. Interestingly, this study suggested a higher incidence rates for lung and stomach cancer in rural males than in urban population, which may suggest other potential causes, such as over-consumption of smoked meats and high prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection, respectively. Public education and the promotion of healthy lifestyles should be actively carried out.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.15-21
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• 2004

In an attempt to analyze the characteristics of domestic pathogenic strains of S. pneumoniae, the basic epidemiological charactristics of pathogenic strains such as their serotypes and frequency of penicillin resistance, and pattern of chromosomal DNA from PFGE(pulsed-field gel electrophoresis) were observed. For this study,56 strains of S. pneumoniae isolated from inpatients and outpatients in the four domestic university hospitals were collected from January to December in 1998. Among those strains, a total of 56 pathogenic strains from blood(39 isolates), cerebrospinal fluid(8 isolates) and other specimen(9 isolates) were selected and isolated. The penicillin resistance frequency of those 56 strains was identified with disk diffusion method with 66.1％. From the invasive strains, predominant serotypes were isolated in the order of 19F(12.5％), 23F(10.7%), 14(10.7%) and 9V(10.7％), totalling 45 percent. This experiment also used PFGE patterns to compare the correlations among genetic subtypes in several serotypes. The DNA fragments digested with Sma I and Apa I were resolved by PFGE. The PFGE patterns digested with Sma I were better than Apa I for analysis. In the DNA fragments digested with Sma 1, PFGE analysis of 56 S. pneumoniae isolates showed 25 different patterns. As a result, serotype was on the whole correlated to PFGE pattern on the ground that each different PFGE pattern by serotype was observed. This study can be utilized not only fur the study of incidence trend of domestic pneumococcal diseases but also as a useful basic data for the development of identification tool and treatment.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.170-174
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• 2008

The strains of Salmonella othmarschen and Norovirus isolated from outbreak A, the funeral ceremonies incidents in Ouri-shi of Oyeonggido in, 2007, were subjected to genotyping by using PFGE and extraction of RNA by using RT-PCR. 24 Salmonella othmarschen were isolated from 37 cases (patients 12 cases, cookers 4 cases, foods 7cases, knife, kitchen board, dish towel 4 cases, etc) and PFGE patterns showed that 22 strains isolated from the same incident were almost of the same pattern and 2 strains exhibited 50% of the pattern. Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were such that there were 22 case susceptibility patterns and 2 case resistance patterns (strain 4: AM, CF, CIP, NA, TE TIC and strain 13: CF, CZ). Norovirus G1 (1case), Norovirus G2 (7cases), Norovirus G1,G2 (1case) were detected by using RT-PCR. The fine typing ability and reliability of PFGE and BioNumerics are helpful for establishing out the foodborne pathogens of outbreaks.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.244-248
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• 2020

Skin and soft tissue infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can occur especially in community populations such as military training camps. We investigated antimicrobial resistance patterns and molecular epidemiological characteristics of MRSA isolated from nasal swabs in healthy army trainees. From January 2018 to March 2018, one MRSA strain was isolated from nasal swab and hand of healthy army trainees. mecA gene detection, SCCmec and mec complex typing were performed to analyze the antimicrobial resistance patterns and molecular epidemiological characteristics of MRSA isolates. As a result, SCCmec and mec complex type of MRSA isolate from military trainees was not-typeable (n=1). In conclusion, not-typeable subtype of MRSA isolate from military trainees need to be confirmed by continuous follow-up study to determine whether there is a different genotype or a new subtype of genotype present in the Republic of Korea.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.55 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2017

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) caused by Leishmania donovani is an endemic vector-borne disease in Sri Lanka. Over 2,500 cases have been reported since 2000 and the number of CL cases has dramatically increased annually. Total 57 clinically suspected CL patients attending the dermatology clinic in Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital were recruited from January to June 2015. Slit skin smears and skin biopsies were taken from each of the subjects. Clinical and epidemiological data were obtained using interviewer administered questionnaire. Forty-three (75.4%) patients among 57 were confirmed positive for L. donovani. The majority (77%) of infected patients was males, and the most affected age group was 21-40 years. Soldiers in security forces, farmers, and housewives were identified as high risk groups. The presence of scrub jungles around the residence or places of occupation (P=0.003), the presence of sandflies (P=0.021), and working outsides more than 6 hr per day (P=0.001) were significantly associated with CL. The number of lesions ranged from 1-3, and the majority (76%) of the patients had a single lesion. Upper and lower extremities were the prominent places of lesions, while the wet type of lesions were more prevalent in females (P=0.022). A nodular-ulcerative type lesion was common in both sexes. The presence of sandflies, scrub jungles, and outdoor activities contributed to spread of Leishmania parasites in an endemic pattern. Implementation of vector control programs together with health education with regard to transmission and prevention of CL are necessary to control the spread of this infection.

• The Journal of the Korean Society for Microbiology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.129-139
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• 2000

Acinetobacter baumannii strains are emerging pathogens of the nosocomial infection with an increasing frequency in recent years. The therapeutic difficulty due to the wide spread of multiple resistant strains was major problem in A. baumannii infection. It seems likely that high frequency of A. baumannii infection will be increasing epidemiological importance in the future. However, the current limited understanding of the epidemiology of A. baumannii infections is caused by lack of a rapid and practical method for the molecular characterization of A. baumannii strains. This study was undertaken to determine molecular types and genetic similarity among A. baumannii strains isolated from four hospitals by RAPD analysis. Eighty-five strains, including 40 from Chunnam University Hospital, 27 from Dankook University Hospital, 15 from Yonsei University Hospital, and 3 from Seonam University Hospital, were classified into three molecular types. Molecular type II was the most common pattern and included 72 strains. All strains from Dankook University Hospital and 40 strains from Chunnam University Hospital belonged to molecular type I or II. A. baumannii strains form Yonsei University Hospital were very distant similarity values. The range of genetic similarity values among 85 strains of A. baumannii was 0.26 to 1.00. Although phenotypes including biotype and antimicrobial resistance pattern of A. baumannii strains were same or very similar to each other, their RAPD patterns were quite different. Typing with phenotypes was found to be less reliable than molecular typing by RAPD analysis. These results suggest that RAPD analysis provides rapid and simple typing method of A. baumannii strains for epidemiological studies. This work is the first epidemiological report of A. baumannii infections in Korea and it is hoped that results of this work may contribute to a better understanding of the clinical importance and epidemiology of A. baumannii strains.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2013

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is an endemic parasitic infection in the Mediterranean region, including Libya and its Al-jabal Al-gharbi province. We aimed at studying the occupational relevance as well as other epidemiological aspects of CL. We investigated 140 CL cases who attended at Gharyan outpatient polyclinic during a period of 6 months in 2009. CL infection was clinically diagnosed and confirmed by demonstration of Leishmania parasites on smears from lesions. Our findings showed that males were more affected than females (P=0.04), and people above 10-years were more affected than younger ones (P=0.0001). A significant percent of CL cases belonged to Al-Kawasem subprovince (P=0.0001). Farm-related activities were the most frequent occupations among CL cases (P=0.04). In addition to farm workers, housewives and students are at risk groups since they are engaged at farm activities. Moreover, those who have occupations that require staying outdoors for a part of night, e.g., policemen, are also at risk. Compared to children, adult CL patients had multiple lesions (P=0.001) that were more prevalent in their upper and lower extremities than the face (P=0.0001). We conclude that CL is a major health problem in Al-jabal Al-gharbi province of Libya. The presence of rodents and sandflies makes it a suitable environment for Leishmania to spread in an endemic epidemiological pattern. Being engaged in farming activities or outdoor occupations increases the risk of infection. Various clinical patterns of CL suggest the presence of more than 1 species of Leishmania at Al-jabal Al-gharbi province. We propose that the 2 species responsible for CL in this area are L. major and L. tropica. Further investigations to identify the leishmanial species responsible for CL at Al-jabal Al-gharbi together with adoption of preventive and control programs are needed.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.95-102
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• 2003

Because Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) has variable number of short sequence repeat region in coagulase gene, it has been used to investigate the relatedness of S. aureus isolates. In this study, we isolated S. aureus strains from 20 dairy farms with bovine mastitis from September 2000 to August 2001. PCR-RFLP analysis of coagulase gene revealed 10 different patterns. Most of the S. aureus isolates showed only one coagulase gene RFLP pattern per farm. However, there were several S. aureus clones spreading between dairy farms. All the farms showed poor management conditions of milking machine and milker, indicating that managements for mastitis control program include use of proper milking matching, premilking sanitation, and segregation in the S. aureus infection herd. Our data suggest that PCR-RFLP analysis of coagulase gene might be applicable for the epidemiological investigations of S. aureus isolated from bovine mastitis cows.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.2451-2454
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• 2005

In recent years, the importance of the characterization of fall for a fracture prevention system keeps increasing since fracture from a fall can lead to serious health problems. Fall is one of the major sources which increase morbidity in elderly people. In terms of the cost and the influence to the quality of life, the most serious injury with hip fractures is caused by falls. The traditional methods in characterizing fall patterns have been mainly by the epidemiological surveys. With surveys, the exact data of fall patterns can not been acquired. In this paper, we measured and analyzed with the parameters related to fall pattern such as velocities and accelerations during the motion of falls using 3D motion capture program. We acquired the parameters of the fall pattern of intentional and unexpected fall. The result showed that the variation of velocity and acceleration during fall was very important in characterizing fall pattern, which of vital importance for the development of a fracture prevention system and for the safety of the elderly.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.338-342
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• 1999

Twenty three strains of Escherichia (E) coli O157 : H7 isolated from Korea, Japan, USA were analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) of XbaI-digested chromosomal DNA and multiplex polymerase chain reaction. Various PFGE patterns of E. coli O157 : H7 were found on the same farm. Most of the E, coli O157 : H7 strains had shiga-like toxin (slt) II gene only (43.5%) or both slt I and slt II genes(30.4%). eaeA gene was highly conserved in the E. coli O157 : H7. There was no correlation between PFGE and slt gene patterns. The results indicate that various genotypes of E. coli O157 : H7 have spread throughout the country and genomic DNA patterns generated by PFGE are highly specific for different strains and have significant value in epidemiologic investigations of infectious disease outbreaks.