During a nationwide surveillance in Korea, 13 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains were isolated from imported and domestic meat between 2009 and 2011. The predominant MRSA genotype was SCCmec type V, and only two agr types (I and II) were found. Unexpectedly, sequence type ST72 comprised more than 50% of the isolates; this is the first instance of type ST72 in food from Canada. Two Spanish pork isolates were ST398, which caused human disease in Europe, and they carried leukotoxin genes, lukS, lukF, and lukE-lukD. Furthermore, P71 and P6 harbored all of the known leukocidin genes, lukS-lukF-lukE-lukD-lukM. Our collected MRSA strains were multidrug resistant with various antimicrobial and heavy-metal resistance genes. Toxin genes that are commonly found in clinical MRSA also were detected in our meat strains. One MRSA strain exhibited an uncommon type of enterotoxin, sec-see-seg-sei-sel-sem-sen-seo-sep. Plasmids (1.5-15.0 kb) were found in 12 of the 13 MRSA isolates. Repetitive sequence-based polymerase chain reaction of the genomic DNA showed 3 clusters with 95% similarity. The presence of multidrug-resistant and toxigenic MRSA in meat products suggests that comprehensive surveillance should be continued for imported meats in Korea.

Salmonella Enteritidis is responsible for causing foodborne diseases upon consumption of egg products. While cases of S. Enteritidis isolation from eggs have been reported in other countries, no such cases have previously been reported in Korea. In this study, we report the first isolation and identification of S. Enteritidis from domestically distributed eggs in Korea. Eggs were collected from eight countrywide grocery stores during different seasons between 2011 and 2012. Egg contents and washing solution of egg shells were incubated in buffered peptone water, and the enriched broth was further enriched in tetrathionate broth and Rappaport-Vassiliadis. The secondary enriched broth was streaked on xylose lysine desoxycholate agar. The suspected colonies were confirmed to S. Enteritidis by a biochemical test, serotyping, and PCR test. Genetic relatedness among the isolates was analyzed using Diversilab Salmonella kit. Three strains of S. Enteritidis were isolated from egg contents and egg shells collected from grocery stores of the Eumseong-city in the fall of 2011. All three stains showed resistance to chloramphenicol, streptomycin, nalidixic acid, and ampicillin by the disk diffusion method. In addition, the isolates showed more than 99% DNA homology, indicating that they were presumably identical strains. Therefore, there is a requirement to monitor and control against S. Enteritidis from eggs in Korea.

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<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Platoon is a system that connects vehicles through vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology to maintain a short distance between vehicles while driving on the road. To improve fuel efficiency, many automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are interested in developing and demonstrating real-world platoon system. However, it is hard for heavy duty trucks to develop this system due to the difficulty of maintaining the targeted intervehicle distance not only for fuel efficiency but also for safety in case of emergency braking. Because of this critical safety issue in the emergency situation, the platoon system for heavy duty trucks can be hardly demonstrated or tested in real vehicle environment. The relatively complex system and the slow response characteristic of commercial vehicles makes this even more difficult.</div><div class="htmlview paragraph">In this paper, focusing on the emergency braking function implemented through the V2V communication interface, we introduce the platoon system developed by Hyundai Motor, and explain the system configuration, technology, and control strategy. While there have been various efforts to develop the emergency braking system of the platoon system in a simulation environment in previous studies, we conduct real vehicle-in-the-loop (VIL) test with three semi-trailer trucks. Through repeated VIL tests, we could identify certain vehicle data to be transmitted and received via V2V communication during emergency braking situation and the corresponding signals were properly tailored to reduce the inherent delay. Finally, by reducing the delay of the front vehicle’s deceleration signal, the safe distance gap between vehicles is secured even after the emergency braking. VIL test results of the system are also included to validate the effectiveness of the proposed platoon system.</div></div>