Background: After the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak in Korea in 2015, the government newly established the additional reimbursement for infection prevention to encourage infection control activities in the hospitals. The new policy was announced in December 2015 and was implemented in September 2016. We evaluated how infection control activities improved in hospitals after the change of government policy in Korea. Methods: Three cross-sectional surveys using the WHO Hand Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework (HHSAF) were conducted in 2013, 2015, and 2017. Using multivariable linear regression model including hospital characteristics, we analyzed the changes in total HHSAF scores according to the survey time. Results: In total, 32 hospitals participated in the survey in 2013, 52 in 2015, and 101 in 2017. The number of inpatient beds per infection control professionals decreased from 324 in 2013 to 303 in 2015 and 179 in 2017. Most hospitals were at intermediate or advanced levels of progress (90.6% in 2013, 86.6% in 2015, and 94.1% in 2017). In a multivariable linear regression model, the total HHSAF scores were significantly associated with hospital teaching status (β coefficient of major teaching hospital, 52.6; 95% CI, 8.9–96.4; P = .018), bed size (β coefficient of 100-bed increase, 5.1; 95% CI, 0.3–9.8; P = .038), and survey time (β coefficient of 2017 survey, 45.1; 95% CI, 19.3–70.9; P = .001). Conclusions: After the national policy implementation, the number of infection control professionals increased, and the promotion of hand hygiene activities was strengthened in Korean hospitals.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

Lee H-Y, Kim Y-K. Effect of TGF-β1 polymorphism on the susceptibility to schizophrenia and treatment response to atypical antipsychotic agent.

Using immunostaining methodology, we traced the axonal projection of FMRFamide (Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2)-like immunoreactive (LI) medial neurosecretory cells (MNCs) and lateral neurosecretory cells (LNCs) from the brain into the ventral nerve cord (VNC) and retrocerebral complex in Bombyx mori (L.) (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae). Of the seven pairs of FMRFamide-LI MNCs, one pair extended its axons from the brain pars intercerebralis into the VNC ipsilateral connective where they appeared to terminate. The axons of the remaining MNCs ran through decussation in the brain median region and contralateral nervi corporis cardiaci (NCC) I out of the brain, and eventually innervated the contralateral corpus cardiacum (CC). Axons from the single pair of FMRFamide-LI LNCs projected into the ipsilateral NCC II fused with NCC I without decussation in the brain, and finally terminated in the CC. These results suggest that transport of the FMRFamide-like neuropeptide from may be related to the modulation of functions such as gut contraction in MNCs terminating in the VNC, and regulation of production and/or secretion of specific hormones such as juvenile hormone in MNCs and LNCs terminating in the CC.

Intra-uterine growth retardation has been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes in later life. Mitochondrial changes have been suggested as a link between fetal malnutrition and adult insulin resistance. Taurine has been implicated in this process. We investigated whether protein malnutrition in early life alters mitochondria of the pancreatic islets in adulthood, and whether taurine supplementation restores these changes. Male offspring of rats fed a control diet, a low-protein diet or a low-protein diet supplemented with taurine during pregnancy and lactation were weaned onto the control diet. In each group, at 20 weeks of age, intravenous glucose tolerance tests, euglycaemic–hyperinsulinaemic clamp studies, morphometric analysis of the pancreatic islets and ultra-structural analysis of the mitochondria of the β-cells were performed. The expressions of cytochrome c oxidase (COX) I and mitochondrial respiratory chain complex II were also measured. Fetal protein-malnourished rats showed decreased pancreatic islet mass and reduced insulin-secretory responses to a glucose load. These rats also showed reduced mitochondrial DNA-encoded COX I gene expression in the islets. Electron microscopic examination showed abnormal mitochondrial shapes in the β-cells of fetal protein-malnourished rats. Taurine supplementation to the low-protein diet restored all these changes. Our findings indicate that a maternal protein-restriction diet causes long-lasting mitochondrial changes that may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes later in life. The lack of taurine may be a key causative factor for these dysfunctional mitochondrial changes.

The present study examines whether illusory movement (IM) of a horizontal line, induced by a moving background (MB), influences line-bisection performance in normal subjects. The first experiment attempted to identify the speeds of MB that induce IM. We found that when speed is increased from 1.53° to 13.3°/sec, IM increases, but that with further speed increases, IM decreases. Leftward MB induces rightward IM, and vice versa. In the second experiment, we had subjects bisect lines at MB speeds that had been shown to induce IM in the first experiment. We found that leftward MB induced a rightward bias, and vice versa. We also found that there was a relationship between the magnitude of IM and the degree of bias. In the third experiment, by making the target line larger than the MB, we made the conditions where IM was presumably absent. Unlike the results of bisection performed with IM, subjects showed a bias in the direction of the MB. Overall, these experiments demonstrated that the perception of motion induces subjects to attend in the direction of movement. (JINS, 2005, 11, 881–888.)

In the scribe lane, which is located at the frame neighboring two chips, most of the test patterns for monitoring electrical characteristics of memory device as well as various key patterns for photo process are formed. The pattern density of these regions is lower than that of the main chip area, and cause nitride erosion by dishing phenomena during HSS STI CMP process. Nitride erosion occurred in the scribe lane region, could the affect erosion properties of cell region in main chip area, results in within die remain nitride variation and marginal fail in device operation. In this work, in order to prevent these problems, pattern design in the scribe lane was modified so as not to occurs within die remain nitride variation. The effects of improvement in within die remain nitride variation were investigated by FIB-TEM analysis and its correlation with electrical properties were explained.

It is necessary for the optimum design of arc quenching chamber in the molded case circuit breakers to analyze magnetic force acting on the arc in the chamber. The magnetic blowout forces and the distribution of magnetic field induced by arc current depend on the shape, arrangement, and kinds of material of grids in the chamber. The effective method to design V-slotted iron grid in the arc quenching chamber is discussed in this paper. The magnetic blowout force and flux density were obtained by using the 3-D finite element method considering non-linearity of iron grids. The grid model designed optimally was also verified by means of the interruption performances test. It is shown that our design method is a useful tool for design of arc quenching chamber in the circuit breakers.

A system of (1 − x)Pb(Yb1/2Nb1/2)O3 (PYN)–xPb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 (PMN) (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) has been investigated with regard to its phase transition, densification, and dielectric and electrostrictive properties. According to the XRD study, a crystal structure transformed from orthorhombic to pseudocubic at approximately x = 0.22. The superlattice peaks were gradually weakened with increasing x, and disappeared above x = 0.22. Increasing x led to an increase in the maximum dielectric constant and a decrease in transition temperature over the entire composition range. As a result of P-E hysteresis loops, successive phase transitions of ferroelectric-antiferroelectric-paraelectric were observed to occur in the range of 0.18 ≤ x ≤ 0.25 with increasing temperature, while the direct transition into the paraelectric region was found to take place for x ≥ 0.3. From the field-induced strain measurement, high electrostrictive coefficients, 7.3–8.2 × 10−2 (m4/C2), were determined in the PYN-rich range (x ≤ 0.1). Based on the results, a phase diagram of the system was constructed with variations in x and temperature.