This study employed focus group interviews (FGIs) to evaluate the preparedness and training requirements for an emerging infectious disease response system in the Republic of Korea.Based on the FGIs, the critical role of interdepartmental cooperation in responding to emerging infectious diseases was identified, with agencies such as public health centers, police, and fire services playing key roles in scene control, decontamination, and patient transport. Frequent staff turnover and a lack of trained personnel at local government levels were significant challenges, necessitating the development of training materials for unskilled workers. Civil complaints, common during outbreaks, require public officials to be educated on legal frameworks and the management of patients’ rights. The absence of standardized procedures for managing patients, such as bed assignments considering underlying conditions and sample collection, underscores the need for comprehensive guidelines.Interviewees emphasized cross-departmental training, detailed manuals, and legal education to improve infectious disease response capabilities.

This study employed focus group interviews (FGIs) to evaluate the preparedness and training requirements for an emerging infectious disease response system in the Republic of Korea.Based on the FGIs, the critical role of interdepartmental cooperation in responding to emerging infectious diseases was identified, with agencies such as public health centers, police, and fire services playing key roles in scene control, decontamination, and patient transport. Frequent staff turnover and a lack of trained personnel at local government levels were significant challenges, necessitating the development of training materials for unskilled workers. Civil complaints, common during outbreaks, require public officials to be educated on legal frameworks and the management of patients’ rights. The absence of standardized procedures for managing patients, such as bed assignments considering underlying conditions and sample collection, underscores the need for comprehensive guidelines.Interviewees emphasized cross-departmental training, detailed manuals, and legal education to improve infectious disease response capabilities.

This study employed focus group interviews (FGIs) to evaluate the preparedness and training requirements for an emerging infectious disease response system in the Republic of Korea.Based on the FGIs, the critical role of interdepartmental cooperation in responding to emerging infectious diseases was identified, with agencies such as public health centers, police, and fire services playing key roles in scene control, decontamination, and patient transport. Frequent staff turnover and a lack of trained personnel at local government levels were significant challenges, necessitating the development of training materials for unskilled workers. Civil complaints, common during outbreaks, require public officials to be educated on legal frameworks and the management of patients’ rights. The absence of standardized procedures for managing patients, such as bed assignments considering underlying conditions and sample collection, underscores the need for comprehensive guidelines.Interviewees emphasized cross-departmental training, detailed manuals, and legal education to improve infectious disease response capabilities.

This study employed focus group interviews (FGIs) to evaluate the preparedness and training requirements for an emerging infectious disease response system in the Republic of Korea.Based on the FGIs, the critical role of interdepartmental cooperation in responding to emerging infectious diseases was identified, with agencies such as public health centers, police, and fire services playing key roles in scene control, decontamination, and patient transport. Frequent staff turnover and a lack of trained personnel at local government levels were significant challenges, necessitating the development of training materials for unskilled workers. Civil complaints, common during outbreaks, require public officials to be educated on legal frameworks and the management of patients’ rights. The absence of standardized procedures for managing patients, such as bed assignments considering underlying conditions and sample collection, underscores the need for comprehensive guidelines.Interviewees emphasized cross-departmental training, detailed manuals, and legal education to improve infectious disease response capabilities.

Antibiotic resistance has emerged as a global threat to modern healthcare systems and has nullified many commonly used antibiotics. β-Lactam antibiotics are among the most successful and occupy approximately two-thirds of the prescription antibiotic market. They inhibit the synthesis of the peptidoglycan layer in the bacterial cell wall by mimicking the D-Ala-D-Ala in the pentapeptide crosslinking neighboring glycan chains. To date, various β-lactam antibiotics have been developed to increase the spectrum of activity and evade drug resistance. This review emphasizes the three-dimensional structural characteristics of β-lactam antibiotics regarding the overall scaffold, working mechanism, chemical diversity, and hydrolysis mechanism by β-lactamases. The structural insight into various β-lactams will provide an in-depth understanding of the antibacterial efficacy and susceptibility to drug resistance in multidrug-resistant bacteria and help to develop better β-lactam antibiotics and inhibitors.

Purpose: Interleukin (IL)-17A has been suggested to play a role in the growth and organization of thrombi. We examined whether IL-17A plays a role in the early stages of thrombosis and whether there are sex differences in the effects of IL-17A. Materials and Methods: We performed a blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study to compare time to thrombotic occlusion and sex differences therein between mice treated with IL-17A and those treated with saline using a ferric chloride-induced model. We also assessed thrombus histology, blood coagulation, and plasma levels of coagulation factors. Results: Time to occlusion values did not differ between the IL-17A group and the control group (94.6±86.9 sec vs. 121.0±84.4 sec, p=0.238). However, it was significantly shorter in the IL-17A group of female mice (74.6±57.2 sec vs. 130.0±76.2 sec, p=0.032). In rotational thromboelastometry, the IL-17A group exhibited increased maximum clot firmness (71.3±4.5 mm vs. 66.7±4.7 mm, p=0.038) and greater amplitude at 30 min (69.7±5.2 mm vs. 64.5±5.3 mm, p=0.040) than the control group. In Western blotting, the IL-17A group showed higher levels of coagulation factor XIII (2.2±1.5 vs. 1.0±0.9, p=0.008), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (1.6±0.6 vs. 1.0±0.4, p=0.023), and tissue factor (1.5±0.6 vs. 1.0±0.5, p=0.003). Conclusion IL-17A plays a role in the initial st ages of arterial thrombosis in mice. Coagulation factors and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 may be associated with IL-17A-mediated thrombosis.

This study aimed to determine the impact of dysglycemia on myocardial injury and cardiac dysfunction in acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs). From 2005 to 2016, a total of 1,593 patients with AMIs who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention were enrolled. The patients were classified into five groups according to the admission glucose level: ≤80, 81 to 140, 141 to 200, 201 to 260, and ≥261 mg/dL. The clinical and echocardiographic parameters and 30-day mortality were analyzed. The peak troponin I and white blood cell levels had a positive linear relationship to the admission glucose level. The left ventricular ejection fraction had an inverted U-shape trend, and the E/E' ratio was U-shaped based on euglycemia. The 30-day mortality also increased as the admission glucose increased, and the cut-off value for predicting the mortality was 202.5 mg/dL. Dysglycemia, especially hyperglycemia, appears to be associated with myocardial injury and could be another adjunctive parameter for predicting mortality in patients with AMIs.

Background: Fluorescent antibody virus neutralization (FAVN) test is a standard assay for quantifying rabies virus-neutralizing antibody (VNA) in serum. However, a safer rabies virus (RABV) should be used in the FAVN assay. There is a need for a new method that is economical and time-saving by eliminating the immunostaining step. Objectives: We aimed to improve the traditional FAVN method by rescuing and characterizing a new recombinant RABV expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP). Methods: A new recombinant RABV expressing GFP designated as ERAGS-GFP was rescued using a reverse genetic system. Immuno-fluorescence assay, peroxidase-linked assay, electron microscopy and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction were performed to confirm the recombinant ERAGS-GFP virus as a RABV expressing the GFP gene. The safety of ERAGS-GFP was evaluated in 4-week-old mice. The rabies VNA titers were measured and compared with conventional FAVN and FAVN-GFP tests using VERO cells. Results: The virus propagated in VERO cells was confirmed as RABV expressing GFP.The ERAGS-GFP showed the highest titer (108.0TCID50/mL) in VERO cells at 5 days postinoculation, and GFP expression persisted until passage 30. The body weight of 4-week-old mice inoculated intracranially with ERAGS-GFP continued to increase and the survival rate was 100%. In 62 dog sera, the FAVN-GFP result was significantly correlated with that of conventional FAVN (r = 0.95). Conclusions We constructed ERAGS-GFP, which could replace the challenge virus standard-11 strain used in FAVN test.

Feline panleukopenia virus (FPV) causes leukopenia and severe hemorrhagic diarrhea, killing 50% of naturally infected cats. Although intact FPV can serve as an antigen in the hemagglutination inhibition (HI) test, accidental laboratory-mediated infection a concern. A non-infectious diagnostic reagent is required for the HI test. Here, we expressed the viral protein 2 (VP2) gene of the FPV strain currently prevalent in South Korea in a baculovirus expression system; VP2 protein was identified by an indirect immunofluorescence assay, electron microscopy (EM), Western blotting (WB), and a hemagglutination assay (HA). EM showed that the recombinant VP2 protein self-assembled to form virus-like particles. WB revealed that the recombinant VP2 was 65 kDa in size. The HA activity of the recombinant VP2 protein was very high at 1:215. A total of 143 cat serum samples were tested using FPV (HI-FPV test) and the recombinant VP2 protein (HI-VP2 test) as HI antigens. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the HI-VP2 test were 99.3%, 88.9%, and 99.3%, respectively, compared to the HI-FPV test. The HI-VP2 and HI-FPV results correlated significantly (r = 0.978). Thus, recombinant VP2 can substitute for intact FPV as the serological diagnostic reagent of the HI test for FPV.