• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제54권12호
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• pp.489-500
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• 2011

Compared to the past decades, in recent decades, environmental and hygienic conditions in the Republic of Korea have improved along with socioeconomic developments, and the incidence of most infectious diseases, especially vaccine-preventable diseases, has greatly decreased due to active immunization with the developed level of health care. However, the incidence of some diseases has been increasing, and new diseases have been emerging. To cope with such changes actively, the government put the "Law for Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases" into effect; this law was entirely revised on December 30, 2010. In this report, I review the past and recent status of infectious diseases in the Republic of Korea, following the introduction of this law, on the basis of data in the "National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System", which had been accumulated between the years 1960 and 2010.

• 유통과학연구
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• 제18권11호
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• pp.41-45
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• 2020

Purpose: This article aims to explore the new town development paradigm against infectious diseases. The distribution of COVID-19 constricts economic activity. The high frequency of outbreaks of COVID-19 nationwide is due to neither malnutrition nor unhygienic environment. Research design, data and methodology: The research question starts with the idea that understanding the features of the outbreak of pandemic diseases could help public health authorities to better cope with upcoming risks in the future. We have employed a big data-based methodology to explore the outbreak of pandemic diseases. Also, an idiographic approach is used to describe the distribution of new towns against COVID-19. Results: The results demonstrate that the rapid spread of COVID-19 has had a strong impact on regional economies and urban development. It was found that there is a close relationship between infectious diseases outbreaks and new town development. Conclusions: The findings could be used to deal with new town development against infectious diseases better in other cities or countries as well. The distribution of COVID-19 may become an unexpected opportunity for a paradigm shift in the distribution of new town development to prevent not only an excessive concentration in Seoul, but also an imbalance between national and local development.

• 보건행정학회지
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.356-367
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• 2022

Background: The emergence of new infectious diseases threatens public health, increasing socioeconomic damage, and national risks. This study aimed to develop an evidence-based risk assessment tool to quickly respond to new infectious diseases. Methods: The risk elements were extracted by reviewing the risk assessment methods of the World Health Organization, United States, Europe, United Kingdom, and Germany, and the validity and priority of elements were determined through expert meetings and Delphi surveys. Then, the scale and level for each risk element were defined and a final score calculation method according to the risk evaluation result was derived. The developed risk assessment tool was verified using data at the time of domestic transmission of an emerging infectious disease. Results: In case of spread of actual infectious diseases, priority is determined based on the criticality of the elements in each area of transmissibility and severity, from which the weighted score of the risk assessment is derived. Then, the risk score for each element was calculated by multiplying the average value of the risk evaluation by its weight and the evaluation risk assessment score for the two areas was calculated. At last, the final score is plotted in a matrix where the x-axis indicates the transmissibility and the y-axis the severity and plotted on the coordinate plane for time series use. Conclusion: With respect to transmissibility and severity, this risk assessment method to respond to new and re-emerging infectious diseases enables rapid and evidence-based evaluation by quantitatively and qualitatively assessing various risk elements.

• 한국지리정보학회지
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• 제25권2호
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• pp.18-29
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• 2022

본 연구의 목적은 2020년 1월부터 8월까지 발생한 COVID-19 감염증 발생의 공간적 확산의 패턴을 파악하고 영향요인을 추정하고자 하는 것이다. 우리나라 시·군·구별 COVID-19 확진자를 대상으로 탐색적 공간자료분석과 공간회귀모형을 활용하여 분석하였다. 분석의 결과 COVID-19는 기존에 논의되던 감염병 출현의 요인이었던 숙주와 환경요인이 큰 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타나지 않았으며 공간적으로 인접한 지역과의 관계가 높게 나타났다. 특히 신종 감염병인 4군 감염병의 발생 패턴과 밀접한 관련이 있는 것으로 나타났다. 이 연구의 결과는 COVID-19가 새로운 감염병임에도 불구하고 기존에 발생하였던 신종 감염병의 발생과 전혀 다른 패턴이 아니라는 점을 보여준다. 이는 신종 감염병을 효과적으로 통제하기 위해서 과거 새로운 감염병이 출현하였던 공간의 특성을 지속적으로 관리해야 함을 의미한다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제23권5호
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• pp.630-636
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• 2013

Recently, there has been a growing body of evidence showing that cellular microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in virus-host interactions. Numerous studies have focused on analyses of the expression profiles of cellular miRNAs, but the expression patterns of Dicer, which is responsible for the generation of miRNAs, have only rarely been explored in Gallus gallus. We developed a duplex real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay for the relative quantification of the mRNAs of Dicer and ${\beta}$-actin in G. gallus. To apply this method, the expression of Dicer in avian cells after infection with avian leukosis virus subgroup J (ALV-J) was detected using our established duplex real-time RT-PCR. The duplex real-time RT-PCR assay is sufficiently sensitive, specific, accurate, reproducible, and cost-effective for the detection of Dicer in G. gallus. Furthermore, this study, for the first time, demonstrated that ALV-J can induce differential expression of Dicer mRNA in the ALV-J-infected cells.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• 제41권4호
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• pp.214-218
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• 2008

Bioterrorism events have worldwide impacts, not only in terms of security and public health policy, but also in other related sectors. Many countries, including Korea, have set up new administrative and operational structures and adapted their preparedness and response plans in order to deal with new kinds of threats. Korea has dual surveillance systems for the early detection of bioterrorism. The first is syndromic surveillance that typically monitors non-specific clinical information that may indicate possible bioterrorism-associated diseases before specific diagnoses are made. The other is infectious disease specialist network that diagnoses and responds to specific illnesses caused by intentional release of biologic agents. Infectious disease physicians, clinical microbiologists, and infection control professionals play critical and complementary roles in these networks. Infectious disease specialists should develop practical and realistic response plans for their institutions in partnership with local and state health departments, in preparation for a real or suspected bioterrorism attack.

• Toxicological Research
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.97-105
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• 2007

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) playa crucial role in initiating and regulating innate and adaptive immune responses by detecting invading microbial pathogens. TLRs can also respond to non-microbial molecules derived from damaged tissue. Accumulating evidence suggests that deregulation of TLRs results in the dysfunction of immune system and ultimately increases the risk of many immune and inflammatory diseases including infectious diseases, allergy, and autoimmune diseases. Therefore, understanding how the immune system is controlled by TLRs will provide new insight to find the way to prevent or treat infectious diseases and immune disorders.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.51-57
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• 2015

Vaccines are the most effective and cost-efficient method for preventing diseases caused by infectious pathogens. Despite the great success of vaccines, development of safe and strong vaccines is still required for emerging new pathogens, re-emerging old pathogens, and in order to improve the inadequate protection conferred by existing vaccines. One of the most important strategies for the development of effective new vaccines is the selection and usage of a suitable adjuvant. Immunologic adjuvants are essential for enhancing vaccine potency by improvement of the humoral and/or cell-mediated immune response to vaccine antigens. Thus, formulation of vaccines with appropriate adjuvants is an attractive approach towards eliciting protective and long-lasting immunity in humans. However, only a limited number of adjuvants is licensed for human vaccines due to concerns about safety and toxicity. We summarize current knowledge about the potential benefits of adjuvants, the characteristics of adjuvants and the mechanisms of adjuvants in human vaccines. Adjuvants have diverse modes of action and should be selected for use on the basis of the type of immune response that is desired for a particular vaccine. Better understanding of current adjuvants will help exploring new adjuvant formulations and facilitate rational design of vaccines against infectious diseases.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.365-374
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• 2005

To find potential targets of novel antimicrobial agents, we identified essential genes of Streptococcus pneumoniae using comparative genomics and allelic replacement mutagenesis. We compared the genome of S. pneumoniae R6 with those of Bacillus subtilis, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus, and selected 693 candidate target genes with > 40% amino acid sequence identity to the corresponding genes in at least two of the other species. The 693 genes were disrupted and 133 were found to be essential for growth. Of these, 32 encoded proteins of unknown function, and we were able to identify orthologues of 22 of these genes by genomic comparisons. The experimental method used in this study is easy to perform, rapid and efficient for identifying essential genes of bacterial pathogens.

• 산업융합연구
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• 제19권3호
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• pp.35-40
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• 2021

본 연구는 신종감염병에 대한 텍스트 데이터를 수집하고, 이를 분석하여 신종감염병에서 중요한 요인을 도출하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 네이버 뉴스 데이터베이스의 기사를 직접 크롤링하고, 이를 전처리 하여, 데이터 분석에 활용하였다. 또한 빅카인즈를 활용하여 추가적인 분석을 실시하였다. 우선순위 분석결과, 코로나, 전염병, 방역, 백신, 발생, 바이러스, 감염, 개발 순으로 그 중요도가 나타났다. 근접중심성 분석 결과 정부, 사망, 계획 순으로 그 중요도가 나타났으며, 빅카인즈 분석결과는 코로나 19, 질병관리 본부 등이 중요한 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과를 토대로 신종감염병에 대한 대국민 인식 제고 및 방역, 백신 및 치료제 개발 등에 정부의 정책적인 지원이 필요하다고 할 수 있다.