• Quality Improvement in Health Care
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.15-25
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• 2016

Objectives: In this study, we examined the validity of Clostridium difficile culture results as a proxy measure of Clostridium difficile infection, and inferred the epidemiologic characteristics of Clostridium difficile infection by tracking the trends of Clostridium difficile culture results. Methods: We reviewed the medical records to figure out the actual possibilities of Clostridium difficile infection of those with positive or negative results of Clostridium difficile culture during the time span from January 2012 to March 2012. We calculated the positive and negative predictive value of Clostridium difficile culture results for Clostridium difficile infection. Furthermore, epidemiologic characteristics of Clostridium difficile infection in a tertiary general hospital in 2012 were analyzed. Result: The estimated positive predictive value of Clostridium difficile culture tests for Clostridium difficile infection was 100%, and the estimated negative predictive value was around 94.4~99.3% depending on the cutoff value of possibility of Clostridium difficile infection. A total of 622 cases were identified as Clostridium difficile infection in a tertiary general hospital in 2012 and there were 4.9 patients with Clostridium difficile infection per 1,000 inpatients. Conclusion: In conclusion, we identified that Clostridium difficile culture results can be used as a proxy measure of Clostridium difficile infection.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.114-122
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• 2018

As part of a larger study of indigenous prokaryotic species diversity in South Korea, various samples from Namhangang were subjected to analyses. Fresh water, underwater sediment, and moss-inhabiting aerobic and anaerobic bacteria were isolated. 22 of the isolates were identified as unrecorded bacterial species in Korea that had ${\geq}98.7%$ 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with published species. The aerobic strains isolated were Kurthia gibsonii and Massilia plicata. Also identified were four facultative anaerobic strains: Bacillus hisashii, Enterococcus rotai, Paenibacillus vini, and Pediococcus pentosaceus. 16 strictly anaerobic strains were identified as Bacteroides xylanolyticus, Carnobacterium maltaromaticum, Clostridium argentinense, Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium cavendishii, Clostridium diolis, Clostridium frigidicarnis, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum, Clostridium sphenoides, Clostridium subterminale, Cutibacterium acnes, Paraclostridium bifermentans, Prevotella paludivivens, and Romboutsia lituseburensis. Based on the examination of morphological, cultural, physiological, and biochemical properties of the isolates, descriptive information of these previously unrecorded species is provided here.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.55-61
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• 1993

Soil samples and the intestinal contents of arthropods, mollusca, pisces, aves, and mammals were examined for the presence of Clostridium botulinum. Demonstration of Clostridium botulimun was accomplished by identifying its toxin in liquid cultures inoculated with soil or material from the alimentary tract of tested animals with toxin neutralization tests in addition to morphological, cultural and biochemical tests. Incidences of Clostridium botulinum in tested samples were 5.0% in soil, 6.7% in mammal and 8.7% in fish, respectively. All of the positive cultures were identified as Clostridium botulinum type E and any other type was not demonstrated throughout the survey. Canned foods and solid ham/sausage mixture formulated as can with distilled water were inoculated with Clostridium botulinum type E and checked for toxin production by using the mouse bioassay. Clostridium botulinum type E toxin was produced as a large quantity in canned foods of fish, shell, meat and ham and, however, no significant toxin was detected in sausages and fruit samples.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.588-592
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• 2007

The prevalence of E. coli(K99), Clostridium perfringens and Cryptosporidium parvum on acute diarrhea in suckling Korean native calves was evaluated in the field by a veterinary practice. In diagnosis, fecal samples were directly collected from calves that had diarrhea between 2 and 98 days of age. 40 samples were analyzed in October, 2006 and December, 2006. Clostridium perfringens and Cryptosporidium parvum were detected in 15(37.5%) and 4(10.0%) of the samples from diarrhetic calves, respectively. However, E. coli(K99) was not detected in the samples from diarrhetic calves. There was no significant difference(p>0.05) between October(5, 25.0%) and December(10, 50.0%) in incidence of detected Clostridium perfringens from diarrhetic calves. On the other hand, significant differences (p<0.05) in the detection rate of Clostridium perfringens were found between the within 1 month age and all other age groups. In the detection of Cryptosporidium parvum, there was no significant difference(p<0.05) between October (2, 10.0%) and December(2, 10.0%) in the incidence of detected Cryptosporidium parvum from diarrhetic calves. These results suggest that causative agents of calf diarrhea occurred frequently with Clostridium perfringens infection than E. coli(K99) and Cryptosporidium parvum.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.447-452
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• 2011

Depletion of petroleum increased the need of alternative energy and chemical resources. Biomass, a renewable resource, can be transformed to bioenergy and biomaterials, and the materials from biomass will ultimately substitute petroleum based energy and chemical compounds. In this perspective, production of C4-C6 compounds for bioenergy and biomaterials are described for understating of current research progress. n-Butanol and n-butyric acid, the major C4 compounds, are produced by Clostridium tyrobutyricum, Clostridium beijerinckii, and Clostridium acetobutylicum. n-Hexanoic acid, a typical C6 compound, is produced by Clostridium kluyveri and Megasphaera elsdenii. Reported maximum amount of n-butanol, n-butyric acid and n-hexanoic acid was 21, 55, and 19 g/L, respectively, and extraction of these C4-C6 compounds are induced increase production by those anaerobic bacteria. In addition, a new bacterium Clostridium sp. BS-1 produced 5 g/L of n-hexanoic acid using galactitol.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.391-397
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• 2016

Clostridium is a genus of Gram-positive, rod shape, spore-forming obligate anaerobe. Recently, Clostridium has been attracted as a host for bio-based chemical production, due to its diversity of substrate utilization and the production ability for metabolites which can be used as a building block for chemical production. Especially, butanol produced from Clostridium has been considered as an alternative fuel. As a transportation fuel, butanol has a higher energy density and lower hygroscopicity compared to ethanol, the first generation biofuel. Recently, metabolic engineering of Clostridium has been massively conducted for butanol production. In this study, the metabolic engineering strategy of Clostridium for butanol production has been reviewed with a brief perspective.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.218-221
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• 1999

A case of enetritis caused by Clostridium perfringens was observed in 4years old, male California sea lion(Zalophus californianus). Clinical signs were included in anorexia, depression, diarrhea and vomitting, and the animal died on 4 days after showing clinical signs. Grossly, bloody contents were presented in the intestine and the intestinal mucosa were congested and dark redcolored, and also there were serous fluid in the peritoneal cavity. Histopathologically coagulative necrosis destroyed two third of the villus. Clostridium perfringens were isolated from the intestinal contents. Based on the gross and histopathological findings, this case was diagnosed as necrotic enteritis caused by Clostridium perfringens infection.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.475-479
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• 2000

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cause of chronic diarrhea from anaerobic bacteria isolated from Siberian tiger with chronic diarrhea. Major anaerobic bacteria isolated from faces were Clostridium perfringens and their population was $6 {\times} 10^3$ cfu/g feces. Antibiotic sensi- tivity test against Clostridium perfringens was performed using 6 antibiotic drugs including colistin gentamicin, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, amikacin, enofloxacin and penicillin. Clostridium per- fringens were sensitive to amikacin, enrofloxacin and penicillin while they were resistant to colistin. gentamicin and trmetboprim/sulfamethoxazole. And we found that chronic diarrhea of Siberian tiger was treated successfully with penicillin. These results suggested that Clostridium perfringens may bee a cause of chronic diarrhea in Siberian tiger.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.1357-1362
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• 1999

For the study of human intestinal environments with the intestinal bacteria producing ${\beta}-glucuronidase\;and \;7{\alpha}-dehydroxylase$, genus Clostridium, known as the producer, were isolated from the fecal microflora. Through screening twice for one person, fecal microflora without major bacterial group seemed to be changed, which indicated the microflora would be changeable by the diet factors. With using Neomycin-Nagler selective medium during the screening, 14 Clostridium spp. were isolated and then the harmful enzyme activities were determined. Isolate-11 among them produced strongly ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and its activity was 0.021 unit/mg Protein. However, the strain producing $7{\alpha}-dehydroxylase$ was not isolated. The Isolate-11 was tentatively identified as Clostridium scatologenes through cultural and physiological characteristic.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.401-410
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• 2004

Soil samples from five different areas in Korea were collected during 2001/02 and examined for presence of the genus Clostridium. Direct immuno-fluorescent assay (IFA) examination showed that Clostridium septicum, Cl. novyi and Cl. chauvoei were detected in the soil of specific areas in Korea. Sixteen species of Clostridium were isolated and cultivated from the soil samples. Cl. peifringens was detected in all sampling locations, while the other species were not. The in vitro activity of 14 antibiotic agents was determined against 421 clostridia isolated from the soil contaminated with animal feces in Korea. Trovafloxacin was effective against all isolates of the genus Clostridium except one isolate of Cl. subterminale, two of Cl. tetani, and three of Cl novyi with $MIC_{50}$ $8- 16\mu$g $ml^{-1}$. Thirteen species of Clostridium were resistant to vancomycin except for Cl. perfringens, Cl. sporogenes, and Cl. subterminale. Imipenem and trovafloxacin showed high antimicrobial activities (>95%) against all strains in the clostridia investigated. Therefore, antibiotic agents such as imipenem and trovafloxacin are the most suitable agents for polymicrobial infection as broad-spectrum monotherapy.