Background: Although small- and medium-sized hospitals comprise most healthcare providers in South Korea, data on antibiotic usage is limited in these facilities. We evaluated the pattern of antibiotic usage and its appropriateness in hospitals with <400 beds in South Korea. Methods: A multicenter retrospective study was conducted in 10 hospitals (6 long-term care hospitals, 3 acute-care hospitals, and 1 orthopedic hospital), with <400 beds in South Korea. We analyzed patterns of antibiotic prescription and their appropriateness in the participating hospitals. Data on the monthly antibiotic prescriptions and patient days for hospitalized patients were collected using electronic databases from each hospital. To avoid the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, data were collected from January to December 2019. For the evaluation of the appropriateness of the prescription, 25 patients under antibiotic therapy were randomly selected at each hospital over 2 separate periods. Due to the heterogeneity of their characteristics, the orthopedics hospital was excluded from the analysis. The collected data were reviewed, and the appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions was evaluated by 5 specialists in infectious diseases (adult and pediatric). Data from 2 hospitals were assigned to each specialist. The appropriateness of antibiotic prescriptions was evaluated from 3 aspects: route of administration, dose, and class. If the 3 aspects were ‘optimal,’ the prescription was considered ‘optimal.’ If only the route was ‘optimal,’ and the dose and/or class was ‘suboptimal,’ but not ‘inappropriate,’ it was considered ‘suboptimal.’ If even 1 aspect was ‘inappropriate,’ it was classified as ‘inappropriate.’ Results: The most commonly prescribed antibiotics in long-term care hospitals was fluoroquinolone, followed by β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor (antipseudomonal). In acute-care hospitals, these were third-generation cephalosporin, followed by first-generation cephalosporin and second-generation cephalosporin. The major antibiotics that were prescribed in the orthopedics hospital was first-generation cephalosporin. Only 2.3% of the antibiotics were administered inappropriately. In comparison, 15.3% of patients were prescribed an inappropriate dose. The proportion of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions was 30.6% of the total antibiotic prescriptions. Conclusions: The antibiotic usage patterns vary between small- and medium-sized hospitals in South Korea. The proportion of inappropriate prescriptions exceeded 30% of the total antibiotic prescriptions.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

Two aphid-transmitted RNA viruses, broad bean wilt virus 2 (BBWV2) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), are the most prevalent viruses in Korean pepper fields and cause chronic damage in pepper production. In this study, we employed a screening system for pathotype-specific resistance of pepper germplasm to BBWV2 and CMV by utilizing infectious cDNA clones of different pathotypes of the viruses (two BBWV2 strains and three CMV strains). We first examined pathogenic characteristics of the BBWV2 and CMV strains in various plant species and their phylogenetic positions in the virus population structures. We then screened 34 commercial pepper cultivars and seven accessions for resistance. While 21 pepper cultivars were resistant to CMV Fny strain, only two cultivars were resistant to CMV P1 strain. We also found only one cultivar partially resistant to BBWV2 RP1 strain. However, all tested commercial pepper cultivars were susceptible to the resistance-breaking CMV strain GTN (CMV-GTN) and BBWV2 severe strain PAP1 (BBWV2-PAP1), suggesting that breeding new cultivars resistant to these virus strains is necessary. Fortunately, we identified several pepper accessions that were resistant or partially resistant to CMV-GTN and one symptomless accession despite systemic infection with BBWV2-PAP1. These genetic resources will be useful in pepper breeding programs to deploy resistance to BBWV2 and CMV.

Parkinson's disease (PD), one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders, is characterised by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) to the striatum (ST), and involves oxidative stress. Mulberry fruit from Morus alba L. (Moraceae) is commonly eaten, and has long been used in traditional oriental medicine. It contains well-known antioxidant agents such as anthocyanins. The present study examined the protective effects of 70 % ethanol extract of mulberry fruit (ME) against neurotoxicity in in vitro and in vivo PD models. In SH-SY5Y cells stressed with 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), ME significantly protected the cells from neurotoxicity in a dose-dependent manner. Other assays demonstrated that the protective effect of ME was mediated by its antioxidant and anti-apoptotic effects, regulating reactive oxygen species and NO generation, Bcl-2 and Bax proteins, mitochondrial membrane depolarisation and caspase-3 activation. In mesencephalic primary cells stressed with 6-OHDA or 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium (MPP+), pre-treatment with ME also protected dopamine neurons, showing a wide range of effective concentrations in MPP+-induced toxicity. In the sub-acute mouse PD model induced by 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP), ME showed a preventative effect against PD-like symptoms (bradykinesia) in the behavioural test and prevented MPTP-induced dopaminergic neuronal damage in an immunocytochemical analysis of the SNpc and ST. These results indicate that ME has neuroprotective effects in in vitro and in vivo PD models, and that it may be useful in preventing or treating PD.

We investigated the neuropsychological profile of subjects in a subclinical obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) sample. Psychometrically defined subclinical obsessive-compulsive (n = 21) and control (n = 22) subjects were examined. Comprehensive neuropsychological tests evaluating verbal/nonverbal memory, attention, and executive function were administered. The subclinical obsessive-compulsive group showed poorer performances on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), F(1, 41) = 13.80, p < .001, and Trail-Making Test (TMT), F(1, 41) = 5.48, p < .05, compared with the control group. The subclinical obsessive-compulsive group showed higher rates of total errors, perseverative errors, and perseverative responses. In addition, the subclinical obsessive-compulsive group committed a greater number of errors in the TMT. However, the groups showed no performance differences in the TMT after controlling for the effects of depression and anxiety, F(1, 39) = 0.11, p = .739. These results suggest that subclinical obsessive-compulsives seemed to display deficits in executive functioning. This neuropsychological profile is consistent with current theories proposing that executive dysfunction may serve as the pathophysiological mechanism underlying the development of obsessive-compulsive disorder. (JINS, 2009, 15, 286–290.)

Neointimal hyperplasia is a main cause for in-stent restenosis after stent-implantation and is triggered by inflammatory response to foreign materials. It can be inhibited if the stent is modified to have good blood compatibility by coating drug compounds. Low temperature plasma polymerization of 1, 2-diaminocyclohexane was performed to prepare more adhesive polymeric thin film onto the metallic stent. Then, the chemical grafting of α-lipoic acid (ALA) was carried out to improve blood compatibility of stent. Drugs containing carboxylic groups can be chemically grafted through the formation of amide bond in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide methiodide onto the DACH deposited stent surface. ALA grafted film showed good mechanical stability and blood compatibility.

In this study, we assess the neuropsychological profiles of both early and late symptom-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. The early and late-onset OCD patients are compared to the control group with a series of neuropsychological measurements. The late-onset OCD patients exhibited impaired performance on the immediate and the delayed recall conditions of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT) and the letter and category fluency of the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWA), compared to the normal controls and the early-onset OCD patients. The controls and early-onset OCD patients did not differ on any of the neuropsychological measurements taken in this study. These results suggest that different neurophysiological mechanisms are in play in early and late-onset OCD patients, and age of onset can serve as a potential marker for the subtyping of OCD. (JINS, 2007, 13, 30–37.)

Reducing interline capacitance and line resistance is required to minimize RC delays, reduce power consumption and crosstalk below 100nm node technology. For this purpose, various inorganic- and organic polymers have been tested to reduce dielectric constants in parallel with the use of copper as metal line. Lowering the dielectric constants, in particular, causes the detrimental effect on mechanical properties, and then leads to film damage and/or delamination during chemical-mechanical planarization CMP) or repeated thermal cure cycles. To overcome this issue, new carbon-bridged hybrid materials synthesized by organometallic silane precursors and sol-gel reaction are proposed.

In this work, we have developed new organic-inorganic hybrid low-k dielectrics with linear or cyclic carbon bridged structures. The differently bridged carbon structures were formed by a controlled reaction. 1H NMR, 29Si NMR analysis and GC/MSD analysis were conducted for the structural characterization of new hybrid low-k dielectric. The mechanical and dielectric properties of these hybrid materials were characterized by using nanoindentation with continuous stiffness measurement and Al dot MIS techniques. The results indicated that these organic-inorganic hybrid materials were very promising polymers for low-k dielectrics that had low dielectric constants with high thermal and mechanical properties. It has been also demonstrated that electrical and mechanical properties of the hybrid films could be tailored by copolymerization with PMSSQ and through the introduction of porogen.

In this study we isolated a murine mAsb-17 from mouse testis by RT-PCR using primers designed based on the sequences from the GenBank database. The sequence analysis showed that mAsb-17 encodes a 295 amino acid polypeptide with a molecular weight of approximately 34 kDa containing two ankyrin repeats and one SOCS box. The amino acid sequence of mASB-17 showed 87.5%, 98.3% and 92.9% identity with that of human, rat and dog, respectively. Interestingly, northern blot analysis showed that mAsb-17 was expressed only in the testis. The expression analysis by RT-PCR for mAsb-17 in mouse indicates that mAsb-17 is expressed from the fourth week after birth to adult, with the highest expression in round spermatids. Both northern blot and RT-PCR analyses suggest that mASB-17 may play essential roles in testis development and spermatogenesis.

Spin-on Low-K materials are potentially very attractive as interconnectionmaterials in a wide range of semiconductor structures. In this work, neworganic-inorganic hybrid materials synthesized by vinylsilane polymerizationwere proposed. According to compositions and additional fabrications,dielectric constants of these materials were evaluated to be 2.3∼3.1. Thehardness was 2.0GPa after 430°C curing. These materials had good adhesionstrength such that fracture toughness on silicon wafer was 0.22 MPam0.5 without any adhesion promoters. This result indicatesthat these organicinorganic hybrid materials are very promising candidatesfor low-K dielectrics.