The average prevalence of reported foodborne illness from 1981 to 1995 was 2.44 per 100,000 population in Korea, and 28.01 in Japan. The mean case fatality rate in Korea was 0.74% and in Japan, 0.03%. When both prevalence and case fatality rates in Korea and Japan were compared during the same period, the prevalence in Japan was much higher than that in Korea. However, the case fatality rate of patients in Korea was much higher than that in Japan. The distribution of monthly and seasonal patterns of foodborne illness outbreaks strongly indicate the outbreaks may be associated with climatic conditions, frequencies of national holidays, and vacation seasons. Comparison study indicates that the foodborne illness outbreaks in Korea most frequently involved homemade foods (47% of the total cases); in Japan, restaurants accounted for 31.3%. Foodborne illness cases of bacterial origin in Korea were 59.3% of the total and included Salmonella spp. (20.7%). Vibrio (17.4%), Staphylococcus (9.7%), pathogenic Escherichia coli (2.4%), and other species (9.1%); in Japan, 72.8% of the total cases and the majority of the bacterial foodborne illness was caused by Vibrio (32.3%), Staphylococcus (15.9%), Salmonella (14.2%), pathogenic E. coli (3.0%), and other species (7.2%). In conclusion, the outbreaks of foodborne illness in Korea and Japan may be mainly caused by improper food handling, and their occurrences may be differentiated according to food sources.

Object The purpose of this study was to analyze the usefulness of the BioFlex, a Nitinol spring rod dynamic stabilization system, and the Nitinol shape memory loop (KIMPF-DI Fixing System) as a posterior dynamic stabilization system in surgery for low-back pain. Methods The 103 patients who underwent treatment with the BioFlex system were divided into two groups: Group 1, dynamic stabilization with or without posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF); and Group 2, rigid fixation (PLIF + BioFlex system only). A total of 66 segments were treated with only the BioFlex system; in these the preoperative range of motion (ROM) was 10.0 ± 4.3°, which changed to 4.1 ± 1.9° after surgery. Adjacent-segment ROM changed from 8.4 ± 3.4° to 10.7 ± 3.2° in Group 1 and from 6.5 ± 3.2° to 10.5 ± 4.6° in Group 2 postoperatively. A total of 110 segments received both BioFlex and PLIF, with a fusion rate of 90.0%. The visual analog scale score for back pain improved from 7.3 ± 3.1 to 1.4 ± 1.8 in Group 1 and from 7.4 ± 2.4 to 2.1 ± 2.3 in Group 2. The Oswestry Disability Index improved from 35.2 ± 6.4 to 12.1 ± 4.5 in Group 1 and from 37.8 ± 5.7 to 13.6 ± 4.2 in Group 2. (The ROM and assessment scores expressed are the mean ± standard deviation.) The 194 patients in whom Nitinol memory loops were implanted were analyzed based on the preoperative and 1-year postoperative ROM of each lumbar segment. The change of ROM in looped segments treated with PLIF was significantly reduced, but the change of ROM in looped segments without PLIF was not significant. The change of ROM at the segment adjacent to the loop was not significant, and the change of kyphosis reflected a slight recovery. Conclusions The Nitinol BioFlex dynamic stabilization system can achieve stabilization and simultaneously allow physiological movement, which can in turn decrease the degeneration of adjacent segments. When used with PLIF, the fusion rate can be expected to increase. The flexible Nitinol shape memory loop, a posterior dynamic stabilization device, is an adequate tension band that displays strength similar to the posterior ligamentous structures. In combination with PLIF at the main lesion, the BioFlex system or the Nitinol memory loop can provide posterior dynamic stabilization to the transitional upper or lower segments, enhance the fusion rate, reduce the adjacent-segment degeneration, and provide dynamic stabilization of the spine.

Alpinae Oxyphyllae Fructus (Alpinia oxyphylla MIQ) (Korean name Ik-Jj-In) is a medicinal plant used in Korea for the treatment of various symptoms accompanying hypertension and cerebrovascular disorders. The present study was performed to investigate the effects of Alpinae Oxyphyllae Fructus water-extracts (AOF) on a cultured primary neuron cell system, cell cytotoxicity and lipid peroxidation in Abeta treatment conditions. Cell killing was significantly enhanced by addition of increasing concentrations of Abeta. Pretreatment of AOF attenuated in cell killing enhanced by increasing concentrations of Abeta. Abeta-induced cell death was protected by the application of water extract of AOF in a dose-dependent manner, and concentrations of 50 to 100 micro g/ml had a significant effect compared to exposure of Abeta only. AOF has been shown to protect primary cultured neurons from N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor-mediated glutamate toxicity. The evidence indicated that AOF protects neurons against ischemia-induced cell death. Oral administration of AOF into mice prevented ischemia-induced learning disability and rescued hippocampal CA1 neurons from lethal ischemic damage. The neuroprotective action of exogenous AOF was also confirmed by counting synapses in the hippocampal CA1 region. The presence of AOF in neuron cultures did not repress a NMDA receptor-mediated increase in intracellular Ca(2+), but rescued the neurons from NO-induced death. AOF may exert its neuroprotective effect by reducing the NO-mediated formation of free radicals or antagonizing their toxicity.

We study the stability and migration mechanism of self-interstitials in Si through first-principles self-consistent pseudopotential calculations. The neutral Si interstitial is lowest in energy at a [110]-split site, with energy barriers of 0.15-0.18 eV for migrating into hexagonal and tetrahedral interstitial sites, while the migration barrier from a hexagonal site to a tetrahedral site is lower, 0.12 eV. These migration barriers are further reduced through successive changes in the charge state at different sites, which allow for the athermal diffusion of interstitials at very low temperatures. The [110]-split geometry is also the most stable structure for negatively charged states, while positively charged self-interstitials have the lowest energy at tetrahedral sites. Apart from the migration barrier, the formation energy of the [110]-split interstitial is estimated to be about 4.19 eV; thus, the resulting activation enthalpy of about 4.25 eV is in good agreement with high-temperature experimental data.

This study describes the epidemiology of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in the past 10 yr (2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010) in Korea. During this period, a total of 3,953 HFRS patients and an average prevalence rate of 0.81 per 100,000 population were recorded, with a total of 40 fatal cases, corresponding to a case fatality rate of 1.01%. More HFRS cases were found in men than in women (57% vs 43%), and a higher prevalence rate of HFRS was observed in patients older than 40 yr (82.1%). The highest numbers of HFRS cases were found amongst farmers (35.6%). The majority of HFRS cases (71.3%) occurred in the last quarter of the calendar year (October to December). More HFRS cases occurred in the western part than in the eastern part of Korea (68.9% vs 31.1%). The incidence of HFRS was significantly higher (P < 0.001) in rural areas than in urban areas (80.3% vs 19.7%). HFRS still occurs commonly among men, in autumn, and in western rural area of Korea. http://dx.doi.org/10. 3346/jkms.2013.28.10.1552 • J Korean Med Sci 2013 28: 1552-1554 BRIEF COMMUNICATION Infectious Diseases, Microbiology & ParasitologyHantavirus infection induces 2 different diseases, hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS), mainly in Korea, far east Russia, and China and in the United States, respectively (1, 2). The viruses are transmitted to humans by the inhalation of excreta of rodents infected with hantaviruses (3). HFRS was first recognized during the Korean War in the early 1950s, and although a hantavirus vaccine has been developed, the disease remains a serious problem in Asia and Europe (1, 4), and especially among soldiers in Korea (5, 6). A 2006 report describes HFRS epidemiology in endemic regions in Korea during a relatively short period, 1995-1998 (7); however, an updated epidemiological study is necessary to better understand the current status of HFRS in Korea. This study provides a comprehensive epidemiological overview of HFRS during the past decade in Korea.Raw data were utilized from the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (NNDSS) website of the Korean Center for (Table 1). The prevalence rate (PR) of HFRS per 100,000 population and case fatality rate (CFR) were estimated by the criteria established by the World Health Organization (WHO), and the upper and lower limits of the 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Statistically significant differences between the epidemiological aspects were determined at P < 0.05 and P < 0.01 using the chi-square test or the paired t-test. The data analyses were carried out using the statistical system software included in Microsoft Excel 2007.As shown in Table 1, the HFRS cases were analyzed according to the PR, CFR, gender, age, and occupation of the infected individuals. There were a total of 3,953 HFRS patients with an average PR of 0.81 (95% CI, 0.79-0.85) per 100,000 population and a total of 40 fatal cases with a CFR of 1.01% (95% CI, 0.7-1.3). A significantly higher number (P <...

In the present study, the outbreak patterns of bovine brucellosis in Korea from 2000 to 2011 were analyzed to understand the epidemiological evolution of this disease in the country. A total of 85,521 brucella reactor animals were identified during 14,215 outbreaks over the 12-year study period. The number of bovine brucellosis cases increased after 2003 and peaked in 2006 before decreasing thereafter. The majority of the bovine brucellosis cases were Korean native cattle, Han Woo. The numbers of human brucellosis cases and cattle outbreaks increased and decreased in the same pattern. The correlation coefficient for human and bovine cases per year was 0.96 (95% confidence interval = 0.86~0.99; p < 10-3). The epidemiological characteristics of bovine brucellosis appeared to be affected by the intensity of eradication programs that mainly involved a test-and-slaughter policy. Findings from the present study were based on freely available statistics from web pages maintained by government agencies. This unlimited access to information demonstrates the usefulness of government statistics for continually monitoring the health of animal populations.

SUMMARY:In this study, we performed a retrospective, quantitative analysis of the epidemiological aspects and risk factors of Vibrio vulnificus infections in Korea from 2001 to 2010. In a total of 588 V. vulnificus infection cases (prevalence rate, 0.12 cases/100,000 persons), 285 were fatal (case-fatality rate [CFR], 48.5z). Males were more significantly infected by V. vulnificus than females (86.1z versus 13.9z; P º 0.01), and a higher incidence of V. vulnificus infections was observed in people aged more than 40 years (95.1z; P º 0.01). Moreover, most V. vulnificus infections occurred in the unemployed (42.0z; P º 0.01). The seasonal patterns of outbreaks revealed that most outbreaks occurred in June (early summer) throughout November (the end of autumn) (99.6z; P º 0.01), and significantly more outbreaks occurred in the southern part (65.3z) of the Korean peninsula compared with those in the northern (29.4z) and central (5.3z) parts (P º 0.01). In addition, the number of V. vulnificus infections was significantly higher in rural and coastal villages (69.9z) than in urban areas (30.1z) (P º 0.01). In conclusion, because of the rapid aggravation and high CFR of V. vulnificus infections, public health education should strongly recommend avoiding raw seafood products and limited exposure to marine water during the summer.Of all foodborne infectious diseases, Vibrio vulnificus infection is one of the most severe because the fatality rate of V. vulnificus septicemia exceeds 50z (1). V. vulnificus is a Gram-negative bacillus that only infects humans and other primates. It is a member of the same family of bacteria that cause cholera. V. vulnificus is normally found in warm seawater and is a part of a group of vibrios classified as a halophile because of their salt requirements (2). V. vulnificus was first isolated in 1976 from a series of blood culture samples submitted to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC; Atlanta, Ga., USA) (3). In Korea, the first reported case of V. vulnificus infection was in 1982 (4); however, it was not officially reported. V. vulnificus can cause an infection in those who eat contaminated seafood or have an open wound exposed to seawater. Among healthy people, ingestion of V. vulnificus can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. In immunocompromised persons, particularly those with chronic liver disease, V. vulnificus can infect the bloodstream, causing a severe and life-threatening illness characterized by fever and chills, decreased blood pressure, and blistering skin lesions (1-6). V. vulnificus is found in marine coastal waters surrounding Korea, and infection with this organism by ingestion of raw shellfish or exposure to marine water can cause necrotizing fasciitis and sepsis, which are characterized by high mortality rates and short latency periods (6,7). In Korea, V. vulnificus infection is classified as a type IV notifiable disease by the Communicable Disease Prevention Act of the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) in 2000 (7). Thereafte...

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