• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.191-197
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• 2012

Seroepidemiological changes of Toxoplasma gondii infection among the residents of the islands of Gangwha-gun, Incheon for 2 years were surveyed and evaluated by ELISA using a crude extract antigen. In 2010, sera of 919 adult residents in Gyodong-myeon and 313 adults in Samsan-myeon were collected and checked for IgG antibody titers, which showed 14.5% (133 sera) and 19.8% (62 sera) positive rates, respectively. In 2011, sera of 955 adults in Gyodong-myeon and 341 adults in Samsan-myeon were examined, which showed an increase of positive rates to 23.8% (227 sera) and 31.7% (108 sera), respectively. Totally, the seroprevalence of the first year was 15.8% and it increased rapidly to 25.8% in the second year. The positive rates of both sexes increased simultaneously with the significant ratio of males to females by 1.7-2.2 fold (P<0.05). In both myeons, 661 sera were collected every year and showed changes in optical density (OD) in 177 sera; newly found as positives in 73 persons (11.0%), negative conversion in 10 persons (1.5%), and maintained or increased in 94 persons (14.2%). This rapid increase in the prevalence of toxoplasmosis in Gangwha islands may be due to in part peculiar changes in the toxoplasmic environment of the islands and presumably the consumption of the pork bred domestically within the islands or imported from high endemic nations. It is necessary to find out symptomatic toxoplasmic patients and confirm the risk factors for further infection in the islands of Gangwha-gun.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.305-311
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• 2013

In this study, we found that Haplorchis taichui, a heterophyid intestinal fluke, is highly prevalent, with heavy worm loads, among riparian people in Saravane and Champasak province, Lao PDR. Fecal specimens were collected from 1,460 people (717 men and 743 women) in 12 riparian (Mekong river) districts and were examined by the Kato-Katz fecal smear technique. The overall helminth egg positive rate was 78.8% and 66.4% in Saravane and Champasak province, respectively. The positive rate for small trematode eggs (STE), which included H. taichui and other heterophyids, Opisthorchis viverrini, and lecithodendriids, was 69.9% and 46.3% in Saravane and Champasak province, respectively. To obtain adult flukes, 30 STE-positive people were treated with 40 mg/kg praziquantel and then purged. Whole diarrheic stools were collected 4-5 times for each person and searched for fluke specimens using a stereomicroscope. Mixed infections with various species of trematodes (H. taichui, Haplorchis pumilio, O. viverrini, Prosthodendrium molenkampi, Centrocestus formosanus, and Echinochasmus japonicus) and a species of cestode (Taenia saginata) were found. However, the worm load was exceptionally high for H. taichui compared with other trematode species, with an average of 21,565 and 12,079 specimens per infected person in Saravane and Champasak province, respectively, followed by H. pumilio (41.9 and 22.5, respectively) and O. viverrini (9.4 and 1.5, respectively). These results show that diverse species of intestinal and liver flukes are prevalent among riparian people in Saravane and Champasak province, Lao PDR, with H. taichui being the exceptionally dominant species.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.188-193
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• 2009

Purpose: Several authors reported about the post - traumatic nasal aesthetic complications. However, the study for functional or intra - nasal complications has been reported not enough. The aim of this study is to observe the incidence of intranasal synechia. Methods: We reviewed the data from 401 consecutive patients with nasal bone fracture from september 2006 to December 2007. We enforced evaluation with preoperative CT in all patients but postoperative CT within complicated patients. We classified the nasal bone fracture according to the anatomy and severity of fracture. Type I is nasal tip fracture(15%, n = 59), Type II is simple lateral without septal injury(38%, n = 152), Type III is simple lateral with septal injury(23%, n = 92), Type IV is closed comminuted(20%, n = 82), Type V is open comminuted or complicated(4%, n = 16). We studied 98 patients with nasal bone fracture who had postoperative symptoms or undergone postoperative endoscopic evaluation. And then we evaluated the postoperative endoscopic finding and nasal synechal formation after operation. Results: The incidence of intranasal synechiae was 15%(n = 62). According to the endoscopic findings, the incidence of intranasal synechiae was 10%(n = 6) in Type I, 8%(n = 12) in Type II, 16%(n = 15) in Type III, 24%(n = 20) in Type IV, and 56%(n = 9) in Type V. Additionally, the incidence of subjective nasal obstruction and olfactory dysfunction is 18%(n = 72) and 13%(n = 51). But the incidence of symptomatic synechiae of nasal obstruction and olfactory dysfunction is 92%(57/62) and 55%(34/62). Conclusion: We identified relatively high prevalence of nasal obstruction and olfactory dysfunction in nasal synechiae. Based on the results of this study, intranasal synechiae really caused airway obstruction(92%). Our data showed significant relationship between intranasal synechiae and severity of the fracture, because of increasing mucosal handling and destructive closed reductional procedures. First of all, education of delicate procedure regarding this subject should be empathized accordingly.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2010

Enterocytozoon bieneusi, a microsporidian species, has emerged as an opportunistic pathogen in AIDS patients. This organism has also been identified in a wide range of animals, and the zoonotic potential of human infections is of particular interest. This study revealed that this organism was found with relatively high prevalence in feces of asymptomatic cattle in Korea. Fecal specimens were obtained from a total of 1,720 cattle in a slaughterhouse located in Chungnam province, Daejeon city and Chonbuk province. After removal of fecal debris by sieving and density gradient centrifugation, samples were examined by microscopic examination and then nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Microscopic examination with the modified trichrome staining for the fecal specimens revealed 194 (11.28%) positive calves for microsporidia spore. PCR using the specific primer for E. bieneusi revealed 79 (4.59%) positive calves. The infection ratio of microsporidia was higher in March than other season.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Pathology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 1998

The prevalence of primary liver carcinoma (PLC) is relatively high in Clonorchis sinensis (CS) endemic areas in Korea. PLC is a malignant tumor which can be subclassified into hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma(CC). CC has been associated with clonorchiasis, but it is unclear whether clonorchiasis is associated with hepatocarcinogenesis. This experiment was designed to investigate relationships between clonorchiasis and early changes of hepatocarcinogenesis. Sixteen Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 150g were divided into two groups of 8 rats in each. All rats were fed choline-devoid(CD) diet for 4 weeks. Group 1 was given 0.015-0.020% diethylnitrosamine(DEN) as drinking water for 1 week. After one week, the rats were treated orally with 1% N-acetylaminofluorene(AAF) (5 times per week for 2 weeks). Group 2 was treated equally to group 1 except for CS infection during AAF treatment. Two rats in each group were sacrificed at 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th week of the experiment. Livers were stained with OV -6, proliferating cell nuclear antigen(PCNA) and GST-p. Results were as follows: Group 2 livers showed more oval cell proliferation in parenchyma and portal areas at the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th weeks than did livers of group 1 (p＜0.01). PCNA was mostly localized in oval cell populations, rather than hepatocytes and biliary cells. The ratio of oval cells to hepatocytes was much higher in group 2 than in group l(p＜0.01 The ratio of hepatocytes to biliary cells is higher in group 2 than in group 1 (p＜0.05), More group 2 acidophilic foci reacted to GST-p monoclonal antibody than in the noninfected group. It appeared that CS infection promoted potentially precancerous acidophilic foci and oval cell proliferation.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2014

Objective : Despite the high prevalence and clinical importance of panic disorder, studies on the clinical characteristics and course of panic disorder are relatively rare. This study is a multi-center, and retrospective study to examine the clinical characteristics and course of Korean panic disorder patients who visit university hospital. Methods : The study subjects were panic disorder patients who had visited the psychiatric outpatient clinics of 8 university hospitals in South Korea from January to December in 2008. Finally, 238 panic patients were included in this study. Their medical charts were retrospectively reviewed and reassessed by experienced psychiatrists to examine their clinical characteristics, demographic data and clinical course in repose to pharmacotherapy. Results : Among the 238 patients (121 males vs. 117 females), the mean age of disease onset was $41.3{\pm}12.7$ years and female patients showed 5 years older age of disease onset, compared with male patients. The mean score of PSR scale was $4.5{\pm}1.0$ at the first visit, reflecting a 'marked' level of severity of illness and impairment in functioning. Only 110 patients (46.4%) completed the whole follow up visits, whereas 128 patients (53.6%) dropped out during the treatment. After $17.7{\pm}0.5$ months of mean follow up period, the mean score of PSR scale at the last visit was reduced into $2.1{\pm}0.9$, reflecting a 'residual' severity of illness and impairment in functioning. The cumulative recovery rate was 62.1% in the completer group, whereas that of the drop-out group was 47.7%. Conclusions : The mean age of disease onset in Korean panic disorder patients who had visited university hospital was about 10 years older than that of Western panic disorder patients in previous studies, and the Korean panic disorder patients who had visited university hospital showed a relatively higher cumulative recovery rate. These differences might result from an ethnic difference in clinical characteristics and course in response to pharmacotherapy of panic disorder.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.221-227
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• 2008

Bordetella pertussis is pathogenic bacteria causing pertussis, a infectious respiratory disease for the infants. The incidence rate of pertussis was significantly decreased after introduction of vaccine. However, increased pertussis cases are recently reported in several countries with high vaccine coverage. One of the inferred reasons is genotype or serotype variation between circulating strains and vaccine strains. Therefore, it is required to confirm the variation status of the isolates by genotype or serotype analysis and the possibility of pertussis outbreak in Korea should be estimated. For this, the serotype variations of the isolates from $1999\sim2006$ were investigated in agglutinogen and fimbriae. As the result, the most frequent serotype in the isolated strains was agglutinogen 1 and fimbriae 2 serotypes. Moreover, serotype transition from vaccine serotypes to non-vaccine serotypes was observed. Especially, the transition pattern of agglutinogen serotype was directed to increase a different type (agg 1) from the vaccine type (agg 1,2). However, in case of fimbriae, the same type (fim 2) with vaccine strain was increased. These results were also observed in other countries with increasing incidence of pertussis. For more predictable results to know increasing possibility of pertussis incidence in Korea, the studies on genetic variations of antigenic determinant genes and prevalence of antibody titer in normal population should be performed in the further.

• Korean Journal of Community Nutrition
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.378-385
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• 2016

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate the association between sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity and cardiovascular disease risk in Korean postmenopausal women. Methods: We analyzed data of 2,019 postmenopausal women aged 50-64 years who participated in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2008-2011 and were free of cardiovascular disease history. Blood pressure, height, and weight were measured. We analyzed the serum concentrations of glucose, total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Waist circumference was used to measure obesity. Appendicular skeletal muscle mass was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Sarcopenia was defined as the appendicular skeletal muscle mass/body weight<1 standard deviation below the gender-specific means for healthy young adults. The estimated 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease risk was calculated by Pooled Cohort Equation. Subjects were classified as non-sarcopenia, sarcopenia, or sarcopenic obesity based on status of waist circumference and appendicular skeletal muscle mass. Results: The prevalence of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity was 16.3% (n=317) and 18.3% (n=369), respectively. The 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease risk in the sarcopenic obesity group was higher ($3.82{\pm}0.22%$) than the normal group ($2.73{\pm}0.09%$) and sarcopenia group ($3.17{\pm}0.22%$) (p < 0.000). The odd ratios (ORs) for the ${\geq}7.5%$ 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease risk were significantly higher in the sarcopenic obesity group (OR 3.609, 95% CI: 2.030-6.417) compared to the sarcopenia group (OR 2.799, 95% CI: 1.463-5.352) (p for trend < 0.000) after adjusting for independent variables (i.e., exercise, period of menopausal, alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) score, income, education level, calorie intake, %fat intake and hormonal replacement therapy). Conclusions: Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity appear to be associated with higher risk factors predicting the 10-year risks of cardiovascular disease risk in postmenopausal women. These findings imply that maintaining normal weight and muscle mass may be important for cardiovascular disease risk prevention in postmenopausal women.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.41 no.8
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• pp.887-899
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• 2008

Recently the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea, announced the “Dietary Guidelines for Korean Adults (DGKA)”, which includes ten Dietary Goals, six Dietary Guidelines, and twenty-three Action Guidelines. DGKA are developed as the revision of the 2003 Dietary Guidelines for Koreans, targeting adult population. Dietary Guidelines are developed for general purpose as well as for different age groups. They are revised periodically to accommodate changes in diet and health problems of the population. The process of developing new DGKA can be summarized as 1) selection of focus areas, 2) analysis and review of available data for each area selected, and 3) derivation of guidelines based on the analyzed data, and 4) finalizing the guidelines after open discussions among the experts and general public. Five focus areas were selected by examining the Nutrition Goals of the Health Plan 2010 of Korea, soliciting proposals from the experts in the related fields, and reviewing existing and international guidelines. Five areas selected were 1) adequate intake of nutrients and foods, 2) balance of energy intake and physical activities, 3) alcohol intake, 4) food security and nutrition service, and 5) food safety. Adequacy of nutrient and food intakes of the Korean adult population was assessed using 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) data. Newly developed Dietary Reference Intakes for Koreans were used as reference values to assess the prevalence of inadequacies and excesses in nutrient intakes. Energy balance was examined with energy intake of 2005 KNHANES survey and results of physical activity questionnaire in the survey. Alcohol intake was also examined using 2005 KNHANES results of dietary intakes as well as the results of questionnaire survey on alcohol intakes. Food security, nutrition services, and food safety were analyzed using various government data and published results on the issues. Ten Dietary Goals and six Dietary Guidelines were developed after data analysis and were subjected to reviews of experts and general public. The final DGKA are: 1) Eat a variety of foods from each food group, 2) Increase physical activity and maintain healthy weight, 3) Eat proper amount of clean foods, 4) Avoid salty foods and try to eat foods with bland taste, 5) Avoid foods with high fat contents and deep-fried foods, and 6) When you drink alcohol, limit the amount. Twenty-three action guidelines are developed in order to achieve these guidelines in actual diet and life among the population. The government is disseminating the guidelines with “337” slogan and emblem. “337” indicates everyone should practice “3” guidelines of promoting good eating practice, “3” guidelines to limit or decrease in your diet, and you should practice them for “7” days a week. The guidelines will be useful in promoting healthy food habits and good nutritional status which will result in decrease nutrition related health problems in Korea.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.6.1-6.10
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• 2018

The intention of this study was to identify the bacterial pathogens infecting Oreochromis niloticus (Nile tilapia) and Clarias gariepinus (African catfish), and to establish the antibiotic susceptibility of fish bacteria in Uganda. A total of 288 fish samples from 40 fish farms (ponds, cages, and tanks) and 8 wild water sites were aseptically collected and bacteria isolated from the head kidney, liver, brain and spleen. The isolates were identified by their morphological characteristics, conventional biochemical tests and Analytical Profile Index test kits. Antibiotic susceptibility of selected bacteria was determined by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. The following well-known fish pathogens were identified at a farm prevalence of; Aeromonas hydrophila (43.8%), Aeromonas sobria (20.8%), Edwardsiella tarda (8.3%), Flavobacterium spp. (4.2%) and Streptococcus spp. (6.3%). Other bacteria with varying significance as fish pathogens were also identified including Plesiomonas shigelloides (25.0%), Chryseobacterium indoligenes (12.5%), Pseudomonas fluorescens (10.4%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4.2%), Pseudomonas stutzeri (2.1%), Vibrio cholerae (10.4%), Proteus spp. (6.3%), Citrobacter spp. (4.2%), Klebsiella spp. (4.2%) Serratia marcescens (4.2%), Burkholderia cepacia (2.1%), Comamonas testosteroni (8.3%) and Ralstonia picketti (2.1%). Aeromonas spp., Edwardsiella tarda and Streptococcus spp. were commonly isolated from diseased fish. Aeromonas spp. (n = 82) and Plesiomonas shigelloides (n = 73) were evaluated for antibiotic susceptibility. All isolates tested were susceptible to at-least ten (10) of the fourteen antibiotics evaluated. High levels of resistance were however expressed by all isolates to penicillin, oxacillin and ampicillin. This observed resistance is most probably intrinsic to those bacteria, suggesting minimal levels of acquired antibiotic resistance in fish bacteria from the study area. To our knowledge, this is the first study to establish the occurrence of several bacteria species infecting fish; and to determine antibiotic susceptibility of fish bacteria in Uganda. The current study provides baseline information for future reference and fish disease management in the country.