• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.7091-7094
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• 2013

DNA repair capacity is crucial in maintaining cellular functions and homeostasis. However, it can be altered based on DNA sequence variations in DNA repair genes and this may lead to the development of many diseases including malignancies. Identification of genetic polymorphisms responsible for reduced DNA repair capacity is necessary for better prevention. Homologous recombination (HR), a major double strand break repair pathway, plays a critical role in maintaining the genome stability. The present study was performed to determine the frequency of the HR gene XRCC3 Exon 7 (C18067T, rs861539) polymorphisms in Saudi Arabian population in comparison with epidemiological studies by "MEDLINE" search to equate with global populations. The variant allelic (T) frequency of XRCC3 (C>T) was found to be 39%. Our results suggest that frequency of XRCC3 (C>T) DNA repair gene exhibits distinctive patterns compared with the Saudi Arabian population and this might be attributed to ethnic variation. The present findings may help in high-risk screening of humans exposed to environmental carcinogens and cancer predisposition in different ethnic groups.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제49권4호
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• pp.319-328
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• 2009

This study investigated the epidemiology of Listeria (L.) monocytogenes, a food-borne pathogen. The epidemiology of food-borne pathogens is of great importance for clarifying bacterial origin and preventing bacterial contamination and infection. This work examined 68 L. monocytogenes strains, including 11 reference strains and 57 isolates from imported US beef, domestic meats (beef, pork, chicken meat), raw milk, and milk plants. The random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) techniques were optimized to develop a standard molecular epidemiological analysis of L. monocytogenes. There was great genetic variability among the isolates, which produced 24 and 34 RAPD patterns with primer HLWL85 and HLWL74, respectively. The discriminatory power of the RAPD methods with HLWL85 and HLWL74 primer were very high (DI = 0.957; S ${\geq}$ 80%, S ${\geq}$ 95%). Some RAPD types were specific to origin. A few RAPD types were specific for L. monocytogenes strains belonging to a particular serotype. Using the HLWL85 primer, the strains isolated from milk plants could be distinguished from the other strains. And using the HLWL74 primer, the strains isolated from imported beef (US) could be distinguished completely from the other strains.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권20호
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• pp.8837-8842
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• 2014

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is an important cause of liver cancer in Thailand. The highest prevalence of anti-HCV positive among Thai blood donors is found in the northeastern region. The present analysis of the genotype distribution among anti-HCV positive northeastern-Thai blood donors was conducted to provide a base for the epidemiological pattern of HCV infection in this region. Materials and Methods: A total of 112 HCV seropositive healthy blood donors were randomly selected and tested for the presence of HCV-RNA by RT-PCR. HCV-RNA positive samples were genotyped by direct sequencing at core region genomes and confirmed by phylogenetic analysis. Results: HCV viremia was found in 94.6% (106/112) of HCV seropositive blood donors. There were 3 major genotypes distributed among this population. HCV genotype 3a was the most prevalent (71.7%) followed by genotypes 1a (7.5%), 1b (7.5%), 6i (3.8%), 6f (2.8%) and 6n (1.9%). Conclusions: HCV genotype 3a in asymptomatic infections in northeastern Thailand is significantly higher than other previous reports. Subgenotype 6 prevalence is less than in neighboring countries and distribution patterns differ. The findings are relevant as predictors for using interferon therapy in this population.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.279-284
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• 1991

To investigate the epidemiological aspects of listeriosis, serotypes of L monocytogenes and antimicrobial susceptibilities of Listeria spp isolated from chicken carcases and chicken slaughter house environmental specimens were determined. Of 28 L monocytogenes strains, 12 strains(42.9%) were serotype 4, and the remaining 16 strains were untypable. Peak distributions of minimum inhibitory concentration$({\mu}g/ml)$ of the isolates were $0.78{\mu}g/ml$ for ampicillin, $0.39{\mu}g/ml$ for erythromycin and penicillin G, $1.56{\mu}g/ml$ for tetracycline and $6.25{\mu}g/ml$ or $12.5{\mu}g/ml$ for chloramphenicol, and $3.13{\mu}g/ml$ to > $100{\mu}g/ml$ for kanamycin and neomycin. Most of 214 isolates were sensitive to ampicillin and erythromycin, but 20. 1~78. 0% of the strains were resistant to tetracycline, kanamycin, penicillin-G and neomycin. Single or double drug resistance were observed in 75.8% of the resistant strains. The most common resistance patterns were Nm P-G(37.4%) in double pattern and P-G(23.7%) in single pattern.

• 한국동물위생학회지
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.201-208
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• 2011

Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus (S. zooepidemicus) is a pathogen of a variety of infections in horse. We studied biochemical and molecular characteristics of S. zooepidemicus isolated from the genital tract of Thoroughbred mares in Korea. Seventy-nine isolates were identified as S. zooepidemicus by biochemical and PCR method from 374 horses. The biochemical characteristics of S. zooepidemicus isolates were positive reaction of lactose and sorbitol. However, S. zooepidemicus isoltes were negative reaction of inulin, mannitol, raffinose, trehalose, aesculin hydrolysis, growth in 6.5% NaCl and variable reaction of maltose. Epidemiological investigations of S. zooepidemicus isolates were performed by fragment analysis of SzP (S. zooepidemicus protective protein) gene, CNE (collagen binding protein) gene and ISR (16s rRNA intergenic spacer region) gene using ABI Prism $3,130{\times}1$ Genetic Analyzer System. All isolates were shown single amplification size of 906 bp in CNE gene, but SzP and ISR gene were shown variable patterns of fragment size. The characteristics of S. zooepidemicus investigated in this study will be very useful for the prevention of infection and the studies of epidemiologic characteristics of S. zooepidemicus, causing the severe economic losses due to reproductive failures.

• 재활간호학회지
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• 제15권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2012

Purpose: To identify Korean versions of self-reported sleep questionnaires for cross-cultural research and practice on sleep disturbance, we searched self-reported sleep questionnaires which have been developed to measure general sleep patterns. They should be qualitative, easy to take permission, do not obligate to pay, do not need any skill or professional help for scoring and have been reported high reliability and validity. Methods: General Sleep Disturbance Scale (GSDS), Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire (LSEQ), and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were identified based on all criteria. Korean version of GSDS, LSEQ, and PSQI were developed according to the methods combined the guidelines for the process of cross-cultural adaptation of self-reported measures with decentering method. Results: Three Korean versions of self-reported sleep questionnaires were suitable for epidemiological study. They are not full length and easy to read. It requires less than 10 minutes for each subject to complete as well as for researchers to score. Conclusion: Psychometric analysis study is necessary to evaluate the reliability and validity of those Korean versions of self-reported sleep questionnaires.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제45권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2012

Using three Austrian case studies, the variegated applications of molecular typing in today's public health laboratories are discussed to help illustrate preventive management strategies relying on DNA subtyping. DNA macrorestriction analysis by pulsed field gel electrophoresis has become the gold standard for subtyping of food borne pathogens like listeria, salmonella, campylobacter and Bacillus cereus. Using a Salmonella Mbandaka outbreak from the year 2010 as example, it is shown how the comparison of patterns from human isolates, food isolates, animal isolates and feed isolates can allow to identify and confirm a source of disease. An epidemiological connection between the simultaneous occurrence of tuberculosis in cattle and deer with cases of human tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium caprae in 2010 was excluded using mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units variable-number tandem repeats subtyping. Also in 2010, multilocus sequence typing with nonselective housekeeping genes, the so-called sequence based typing protocol, was used to elucidate connections between an environmental source (a hospital drinking water system) and a case of legionellosis. During the last decades, molecular typing has evolved to become a routine tool in the daily work of public health laboratories. The challenge is now no longer to simply type microorganisms, but to type them in a way that allows for data exchange between public health laboratories all over the world.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제34권3호
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• pp.332-338
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• 2021

Background: Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is one of the most painful disorder in the orofacial region, and many patients have suffered from this disease. For the effective management of TN, fundamental epidemiologic data related to the target population group are essential. Thus, this study was performed to clarify the epidemiological characteristics of TN in the Korean population. This is the first national study to investigate the prevalence of TN in Korean patients. Methods: From 2014 to 2018, population-based medical data for 51,276,314 subscribers to the National Health Insurance Service of Korea were used for this study. Results: The incidence of TN was 100.21 per 100,000 person-years in the year of 2018 in Korea, and the male to female ratio was 1:2.14. The age group of 51-59 years had the highest prevalence of TN. Constant increases in medical cost, regional imbalance, and differences in prescription patterns by the medical specialties were showed in the management of TN. Conclusions: The results in this study will not only help to study the characteristics of TN, but also serve as an important basis for the effective management of TN in Korea.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제7권2호
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• pp.403-415
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• 1974

The author has investigated epidemiological features of human cases of epidemic encephalitis (E. E.) in the Republic of Korea and the status of antibody requisition in pre-and post-epidemic time. And virological and serological studies with regarding the relationship of E. E. infection between human and piglet, and field survey against its vector by means of virus isolation from mosquitoes were carried out. Finally, vaccine field trial against human population has also been evaluated in order to confirm its effectiveness. The results of the studies are summarized as follows : 1. The annual incidence of reported cases during the past 25 years (1949-1973) in the Republic of Korea has shown two patterns, one was typical cyclic incidence and the other one was irregular. Annual average morbidity and mortality rate per 100,000 population were 5.7 and 2.1 and fatality rate was 34.6% in typical cyclic years. 2. With regard to the geographical distribution of E. E., the province of Jeolla-Bug-Do illustrated the highest incidence regardless of the epidemic size. 3. The main epidemic period was between mid-August and mid-September (above 90% of the total number of cases). The first case was reported in middle of July and the epidemic ceased in late of October. 4. An analysis of the age distribution of cases of E. E., has shown that above 90% of the total cases occurred in the age groups under 14 years and it was noted that about its 54% were occurred in the age groups between 5-9 years group. 5. Through the Haemagglutination Inhibition (H-I) test for the laboratory diagnosis of E. E., it was found that higher H-I antibody titer was usually detected in the convalescent phase, 15 days after onset. 6. The H-I antibody survey against 563 healthy population by age groups during the pre-epidemic season showed that 422(75%) were less than H-I titer, 1:20 and 122(21.7%) were positive H-I titer, 1:20. Among the 94 American in Seoul who had not been in E. E. endemic area previously only one person had appeared sero-conversion as a H-I titer of 1:80 after post-epidemic season. 7. The E. E. virus could be isolated from the mosquitos pools-C, tritaeniorhyncus which were caught between late July and middle August. 8. E.E. Virus was also isolated from piglet blood on early August and H-I antibody conversion was occurred mostly on middle of August. 9. H-I antibody sero-conversion rate reached to high level when vaccine purified by mouse brain tissue inoculated, showing 98.9%. Higher antibody titer was acquired when booster inoculation was performed, Four fold rise of H-I add N-T antibodies was confirmed with 93.2% and 82.1% respectively.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.43-49
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• 1968

Epidemiological and statistical observations were made of fire hazards that occurred during the past 18 years, 1948 to 1965. Injury and mortality rates for all ages were computed chronologically. For the years of 1955, 1961 and 1965, all fire accidents were epidemiologically analysed to draw characteristic patterns in relation to the seasonal and 24 hour distribution, causes and sites of accidents etc.. Fire hazards observed herein are the categorys E 916 of the International Classification of Causes of Death, 1955, and includes all accidents caused by fire and explosion of combustible materials. The following conclusion was made: 1. The average number of annual deaths due to fire was 183 and the number of the in jured due to the same cause was 335. The mortality rate per 100,000 population was 0.8 and the ratio of injuries per death was 1.83. 2. The casually rate including both the dead and injured was 5.0 per 100,000 in Seoul, the highest among the provinces and followed by 3.4 in Cheju -Do, 2.1 in Kangwon-Do, 1.7 in Kyunggi-Do accordingly. The other provinces had a range of 0.6 to 1.2. 3. The monthly distribution of fro accidents showed that the winter months, December through February, had more frequent accidents, while the summer season, June through August had less. The 24 hour distribution of accidents showed more cases from 12:00 to 18:00 and less from 4:00 to 10:00 hours. 4. The per cent distribution of causes of accidents showed; 90.0% for careless, 10.0% for arson. The cause of carelessness was further breakdown into; 15.0% for kitchen fire places, 13.8% for fire playing, 9,4% for electrical heating and wires, 8.3% for fuels, 6.3% for matches, 5.2% for ash dumps and the remaining for others. 5. The accidents as classified by place revealed that 56.8% of the total occurred at the common dwelling houses, 11.3 at various industrial workshops, 9.3% at the street shops and the remaining at the miscellaneous places.