• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.437-442
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• 2014

Foodborne illness due to the consumption of contaminated raw strawberries is a continuing food safety concern. This study investigated and evaluated contamination levels of bacteria on strawberries at farms stage to evaluate potential hazards associated with fresh strawberries. A total of 315 samples, 105 samples from 5 sampling sites (A to E) of 21 farms and 210 samples from 1 sampling site of 6 farms, was collected every month for four months and analyzed to enumerate aerobic bacterial counts, Coliforms/E. coli, Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition, the prevalence study of five pathogens (S. aureus, E. coli, E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes) was performed on each sample. Aerobic bacterial counts ranged from 0.48 to 6.36 Log CFU/g, with the highest bacterial cell counts recorded for D and E sites. Coliforms were detected in 71 samples (22.5%) with a minimum of 0.48 cfu/g and a maximum of more than 4 Log CFU/g. B. cereus was detected in 98 samples (31.1%) among total samples analyzed. S. aureus was detected in 2 samples with a minimum of 0.48 Log CFU/g and a maximum of 1.38 Log CFU/g. E. coli, E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella spp. and L. monocytogenes were not isolated from any of the samples. The microbial contamination levels of strawberries determined in this study may be used as the fundamental data for microbiological risk assessment.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.490-498
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• 2010

Isotianil is a fungicide which has prevention effects against rice blast disease. In order to register this new pesticide, the series of toxicity data on animal testing were reviewed to evaluate its hazards to consumers and to determine its acceptable daily intake. Isotianil was almost excreted by urine and feces. It has low acute oral toxicity while has no skin toxicity and ocular irritation. Its skin sensitization was evaluated as slight. Genotoxicity of parent compound and metabolite was negligible. Chronic toxicity tests on rats and dogs showed changes of hematology, clinical biochemistry and liver weight. It had no reproductive and teratogenic effects. The estimation of Acceptable Daily Intake(ADI) is based on the lowest no-observed adverse effect level (NOAEL). The lowest NOAEL of 2.83 mg/kg bw/day was found in the twelve-months rats study. The NOAEL was based on increased liver weight and treatment-related effect on clinica chemistry finding at the nest higher dose level of 2.83 mg/kg bw/day. Therefore, it is considered appropriated to apply an uncertainty factor of 100 to the NOAEL 2.83 mg/kg bw/day from the rat study, resulting in an ADI of 0.028 mg/kg bw/day.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.122-129
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• 2014

Objectives: Because of its properties such as resistance to heat, chemicals and corrosion; tensile strength; sound absorption; and affordable price, asbestos has been widely used as a building material, fire resistant and retardant, thermal and heat insulator, soundproofing material, and electrical insulation. Since the prolonged inhalation of asbestos can cause serious illnesses such as lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis after an incubation period of 20 to 40 years, the mineral was classified as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, an intergovernmental agency forming part of the World Health Organization. Children and infants are more at risk than are adults if they are exposed to carcinogens, due to aweaker immunity that has not yet been fully developed. Most childcare centers are operated all day and children tend to spend a great amount of time in the centers. This is why it is important for them to be systematically isolated from environments that may expose them to asbestos. Materials: In order to understand both indoor and outdoor hazards to which children may have been exposed, the study focused on actual surveys of asbestos used in childcare centers, paying special attention to slate-roofed buildings in the vicinity of the centers. Results: A survey of a total of 211 childcare centers showed that the buildings of 18.1% of the centers contained asbestos, with 60.53% of the material being found in classroom ceilings. "Tex" was the most used material for ceilings, making up 89.47% of all ceilings. An outdoor survey showed that childcare centers in Daegu Metropolitan City had an average of 143 slate-roof buildings within a distance of 1km. Conclusions: Buildings housing mainly toddlers, children, teenagers and others more vulnerable to the toxicity of asbestos are not subject to asbestos investigation by law. A legal and practical basis for asbestos control is required for such buildings. In particular, housing materials which contain asbestos in day care centers require asbestos control. GIS should be used to identify the location of buildings with slate roofing materials in the vicinity of daycare centers in order to gauge toxicity of exposure to asbestos caused by potential asbestos friability possibility in outdoor conditions.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.218-229
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• 2011

Lepimectin is a insecticide agent. In order to register this new pesticide, the series of toxicity data on animal testing were reviwed to evaluate its hazards to consumers and to determine its acceptable daily intake. Lepimectin was mostly excreted by feces. It has low acute oral toxicity while it has no dermal, ocular irritation and skin sensitization (As the result of subchronic, chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity showed changes of hematology and clinical biochemistry parameter of serum and blood.). Two-generation reproduction toxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and prenatal development toxicity were not proven. Therefore, the ADI for Lepimectin is 0.02 mg/kg/ bw/day, based on the NOAEL of 2.02 mg/kg/ bw/day of two-years carcinogenic toxicity study in rats and applying an uncertainty factor of 100.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.208-217
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• 2011

Pyrimisulfan is a herbicide. In order to register this new pesticide, the series of toxicity data on animal testing were reviewed to evaluate its hazards to consumers and also to determine its acceptable daily intake. Pyrimisulfan was excreted mostly by feces. It has low acute oral toxicity while it has no dermal, ocular irritation and skin sensitization (As the result of subchronic and chronic toxicity and carcinogenicity showed changes of hematology and liver.). Two-generation reproduction toxicity, genotoxicity, carcinogenicity and prenatal development toxicity were not proven. Therefore, the ADI for Pyrimisulfan is 0.1 mg/kg/ bw/day, based on the NOAEL of 10 mg/kg/ bw/day of 90-days repeated dose oral toxicity study in dogs while applying an uncertainty factor of 100.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.381-389
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• 2009

Confined spaces are inherently dangerous workplace and many fatal and nonfatal accidents have been reported. Even though these accidents occur in various kinds of confined spaces, there has rarely been reported on the health hazard agent, i.e., the types of gases and their concentration ranges. Therefore in this study, we evaluated several toxic and asphyxiating gas concentrations in various confined spaces. We surveyed 57 manholes, 3 sewage treatment plants, 2 yellow radish manufacturing companies and 7 barges to measure the concentrations of oxygen($O_2$), hydrogen sulfide($H_2S$), carbon monoxide(CO), ammonia($NH_3$). Lower Explosion Limits(LEL) and Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Those four types of confined spaces occupies 56% of accidents during last 9 years in Korea. In 57 manholes, the concentration varied according to the types of manholes; rainfall and sewage, and by location; residential and industrial areas. Sewage manhole in industrial area was evaluated as the most hazardous than other types of manhole like rainfall manholes, residential sewage manholes. The highest $H_2S$ concentration and the lowest $O_2$ concentration at sewage manhole in industrial area were 300 ppm, 8.7% respectively. In 3 sewage treatment plants, $H_2S$ and $NH_3$ concentrations were reached up to the 500 ppm and 200 ppm respectively. Two yellow radish manufacturing companies showed the concentrations of 316 ppm, 505.2 ppm, 90 ppm and 15.7% for $H_2S$, CO, VOCs and $O_2$, respectively. Seven barges showed 15.9%~20.9% oxygen concentration. Gas species and concentration ranges varied by the types and location of confined spaces; CO, $H_2S$, $O_2$ could be hazardous in manhole, especially manhole connected to sewage plants. CO, $H_2S$, LEL, $O_2$, $NH_3$ should be controlled in sludge silo and sluge pumping confined spaces in sewage treatment plant. The activity of lifting out radish from the storage tank was evaluated more hazardous rather than the other activities in yellow radish manufacturing industry. The employers must conduct the survey to identify all possible confined spaces in their local workplace prior to performing the tasks. At the national level to reduce the accidents in the confined spaces, we suggest that systemic approach and active education program including possible hazards, standard operation procedures, ventilation plan, and personal protective equipment in confined spaces should be implemented.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6295-6300
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• 2014

Our aim was to investigate the value of combined detection of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50 in diagnosis and assessment of prognosis in consecutive gastric cancer patients. Clinical data including preoperative serum CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242, and CA 50 values and information on clinical pathological factors were collected and analyzed retrospectively. Univariate and multivariate survival analyses were used to explore the relationship between tumor markers and survival. Positive rates of tumor markers CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50 in the diagnosis of gastric cancer were 17.7, 17.1, 20.4 and 13.8%, respectively, and the positive rate for all four markers combined was 36.6%. Patients with elevated preoperative serum concentrations of CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50, had late clinical tumor stage and significantly poorer overall survival. Five-year survival rates in patients with elevated CEA, CA 19-9, CA 242 and CA 50 were 28.1, 25.8, 27.0 and 24.1%, respectively, compared with 55.0, 55.4, 56.4 and 54.5% in patients with these markers at normal levels (p<0.01). In multivariate Cox proportional hazards analyses, an elevated CA 242 level was determined to be an independent prognostic marker in gastric cancer patients. Combined detection of four tumor markers increased the positive rate for gastric cancer diagnosis. CA 242 showed higher diagnostic value and CA 50 showed lower diagnostic value. In resectable gastric carcinoma, preoperative CA 242 level was associated with disease stage, and was found to be a significant independent prognostic marker in gastric cancer patients.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.83-93
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• 2020

East Asia, which includes China, Japan, Korea, and Mongolia, is highly impacted by hydroclimate extremes such drought, flood, and typhoon recent year. In 2017, more than 18.5 million hectares of crops have been damaged in China, and Korea has suffered economic losses as a result of severe drought. Satellite-derived rainfall products are becoming more accurate as space and time resolution become increasingly higher, and provide an alternative means of estimating ground-based rainfall. In this study, we verified the availability of rainfall products by comparing widely used satellite images such as Climate Hazards Groups InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS), Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC), and Precipitation Estimation From Remotely Sensed Information Using Artificial Neural Networks-Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR) with ground stations in East Asia. Also, the satellite-based rainfall products were used to calculate the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The temporal resolution is based on monthly images and compared with the past 30 years data from 1989 to 2018. The comparison between rainfall data based on each satellite image products and the data from weather station-based weather data was shown by the coefficient of determination and showed more than 0.9. Each satellite-based rainfall data was used for each grid and applied to East Asia and South Korea. As a result of SPI analysis, the RMSE values of CHIRPS were 0.57, 0.53 and 0.47, and the MAE values of 0.46, 0.43 and 0.37 were better than other satellite products. This satellite-derived rainfall estimates offers important advantages in terms of spatial coverage, timeliness and cost efficiency compared to analysis for drought assessment with ground stations.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.180-184
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• 2010

This study surveyed the change of housewives' purchase behaviors by food safety incidents; the outbreak of 2008 Melamine incident in Korea as for example. 565 housewives in Gunsan were interviewed in March 2009. 52.3% of respondents were regarded as unsatisfactory for food safety management in Korea. Despite the result of scientific assessment for melamine, 74.6% of respondents were yet regarded as health-threatening substance. By the point of before, during and after Melamine-related food safety incident, we were surveyed the level of purchase for melamine-related food items as five scales, the results were $2.47{\pm}0.97$, $1.80{\pm}0.92$ and $1.62{\pm}0.92$, respectively (p < 0.001). After the incident happened, the purchase level was even more reduced. This study also found that there were significance difference (p < 0.05) among the respondents' knowledge for melamine toxicity and food safety management in Korea concerning housewives' purchase behaviors, i.e. the more accurately for melamine toxicity and higher satisfactory of consciousness of food safety, there were less change of purchase behaviors. In conclusion, the consciousness of food safety and accurate knowledge of hazards were significantly affected for the change of housewives' purchase behaviors by food safety incidents. Therefore, it can be suggested that the need for more scientific risk communication strategies with consumer.

• Journal of the Korean Dietetic Association
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.172-184
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• 2006

This study was aimed to provide safety management guidance by evaluating the microbial quality of cooked dried-seafoods in school foodservice operations. Nineteen seafood items were collected from six elementary schools, those were dried-anchovy, dried-seaweed and dried-fish, which were classified as cooking process. The temperatures at receiving and after cooking were measured and the analyses of cooking processes and microbial quality were performed. The temperatures of all foods after cooking were higher than the temperature limit of $74\^circC$. The number of total aerobic bacteria and S. aureus in dried-anchovy over the limit of $10^5$ and even the level of S. aureus was found to be unsatisfactory. The count of total aerobic bacteria was 2.1x$10^8$ CFU/g and the number of total aerobic bacteria after cooking was over the limit in one school. The level of E. coli (3.1x$10^3$ CFU/g) was over the limit at one school and the number of S. aureus (1.2×$10^4$ CFU/g) was considered as unacceptable. Dried- tangle and green laver were contaminated with total aerobic bacteria showing the over the limit. The numbers of total aerobic bacteria in dried- filefish, pollack and squid were 4.3x$10^6$, 3.4x$10^6$-3.9x$10^7$ and 4.6x$10^5$-4.1x$10^7$ CFU/g, respectively, which were in acceptable or unsatisfactory level. The E. coli in dried- filefish and pollack were over the limit. The total aerobic bacteria levels, 4.6x$10^5$-1.5x$10^6$ CFU/g in dried-pollack and 8.0x$10^5$-2.2x$10^7$ CFU/g in dried-squid, were over the limit after cooking except dried-filefish. The E. coli levels, 4.3x$10^3$ CFU/g in dried-filefish and 2.5x$10^2$ CFU/g in dried-pollack, were over the limit of $10^2$ CFU/g. The numbers of Enterobacteriaceae were either acceptable (3.3x$10^3$ CFU/g) or unsatisfactory (1.6x$10^4$ CFU/g) level in dried-pollack. S. aureus was unsatisfactory level (6.5x$10^4$ CFU/g) in dried-filefish while unacceptable in dried-pollack both before and after cooking. Unacceptable levels of S. aureus, 2.4x$10^4$ and 1.3x$10^5$ CFU/g were found from two schools, respectively. These results suggest that the contamination of raw materials and the seasonings added after cooking should be controlled to manage the microbial safety of cooked dried-seafoods.