The Road Less Traveled

Chaeshin Chu

doi:10.1016/j.phrp.2011.05.001

Articles

Page Path: HOME > Osong Public Health Res Perspect > Volume 2(1); 2011 > Article

Editorial The Road Less Traveled: Chaeshin Chu; Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives 2011;2(1):1-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrp.2011.05.001
Published online: May 7, 2011

Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives, Osong, Korea.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

2,590 Views
18 Download
1 Crossref

Full Article

Download PDF

Article information
References

As I look down the hill through the editorial office’s window, I notice a sprout developing on a pine tree blooming nearby. I then pat myself on the back thinking of the last 3 months I have gone through. It was snowing when I first began the managing editorship for Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives. The first issue has already been published, with its glossy cover now reflecting in the sunshine. This is a crystal of pains of scientists in this ‘five-pine’, or Osong techno-polis.

As we grow older, we discover that what seemed at one time an absorbing interest, was in reality a passion that had swept over us before passing on. Finally, we come to realize that our life has no more continuity than a rock-pool filled by a crashing wave before it is then emptied. This journal might be nothing more than another passion of mine when I consider it in retrospect sometime in the future. But I would also like to say that I have taken the less traveled path of two roads diverging in the woods, and that has made all the difference.

As I calculate the chance of radioactive fall-out from our neighboring country’s Fukushima nuclear plants in this weekend’s rain, I am also looking at the corrected manuscripts for this issue on my desk, simultaneously dialing the numbers for authors who have yet to submit a revised article. As our journal aims and scope reveal, this issue covers the full spectrum of epidemiological research, basic and applied disease-related research, a national survey, and a cohort study.

In this issue, we discover that cottons rats can be used for the study of influenza virus pathogenesis for human influenza A (H1N1) [1], and the differences in phenotypic susceptibility assays between Korean highly active anti-retroviral therapy-experienced HIV-1 infected and highly active anti-retroviral therapy-naïve patients [2]. Lyme borreliosis is also described in Korea [3]. Furthermore, we see that hepatitis E was more prevalent in rural areas than urban areas (odds ratio 3.22, 95% confidence interval: 1.46–7.10) based on a national survey [4], and the first serological evidence for dengue type 1 virus was identified among Koreans who had traveled to endemic areas [5].

Two interesting approaches to Vibrio vulnificus infections in Korea are described. Molecular characterization was conducted for V. vulnificus isolates in the laboratory [6], whereas a mathematical model was also developed for the estimation and prediction of the incidence of disease and its relationship with seawater temperature [7].

This issue also reports a surveillance study that indicated the existence of high resistance to the antibiotics most frequently prescribed for diarrhea in isolates from diarrheal patients [8]. In a school children cohort study, two distinctive dietary patterns (Western and Korean diets) were found to be closely related to dietary quality, which in turn are related to health risks, which could further be helpful in designing nutrition policy and intervention programs for children [9]. Furthermore, the mean incubation period of the Ebola outbreak (subtype Zaire) in Kikwit, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 1995 was estimated to be 12.7 days (standard deviation 4.31 days), far less than in previous studies (25 days) [10], whereas a plan of action is summarized as a guide for key actions taken if poliovirus outbreak occurs in Korea [11].

Article information

References

1. Kwon D., Shin K., Shin J.. Pathogenesis and chronologic localization of human influenza A (H1N1) virus in cotton rats. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;15−22.Article
2. Kwon O., Choi J., Kim E.. Low infectivity of homologous recombinant HIV-1 pseudo-virus with reverse transcriptase inhibitor-related mutations from highly active antiretroviral therapy experienced patients in TZM-bl cell line. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;23−28.
3. Park S., Hwang K., Chu H.. Serological detection of lyme borreliosis agents in patients from Korea, 2005–2009. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;29−33.Article
4. Yun H., Lee H., Cheon D.. Serological detection of lyme A seroprevalence study of hepatitis A and E viruses based on the third Korea National Health and Nutrition Survey in Korea. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;46−50.Article
5. Jeong Y.E., Kim Y.H., Cho J.E.. Identification of dengue type 1 virus (DENV-1) in Koreans traveling abroad. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;34−40.Article
6. Jeong H.S., Kim J.Y., Jeon S.M.. Genotypic characterization of Vibrio vulnificus clinical isolates in Korea. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;8−14.Article
7. Chu C., Do Y., Kim Y.. Mathematical modeling and global climate change for Vibrio Vulnificus infection in Korea. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;51−58.
8. Cho S., Lim Y., Park M.. Prevalence of antibiotic resistance in fecal Escherichia coli isolates from apparently healthy persons and diarrheal patients. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;41−45.
9. Choi H.J., Joung H., Lee H.. The influence of dietary patterns on the childhood nutritional profile of Korean child cohort study. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;59−64.
10. Eichner M., Dowell S.F.. Incubation period of ebola hemorrhagic fever subtype Zaire. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;3−7.
11. Song K.M., Choe Y.J., Cho H.. National action plan for response to poliovirus importation in Korea. Pub Health Res Perspect 2(1). 2011 Jun;65−71.

Figure & Data

References

Citations

Citations to this article as recorded by

Assessing the impact of the environmental contamination on the transmission of Ebola virus disease (EVD)
Berge Tsanou, Samuel Bowong, Jean Lubuma, Joseph Mbang
Journal of Applied Mathematics and Computing.2017; 55(1-2): 205. CrossRef

PubReader
Cite

Cite

export Copy Format

Close

XML Download