Sun-Mi Lee

Background: Chemoprophylaxis has been used to prevent malaria among soldiers and secondary transmission, as it effectively facilitates a decline in disease occurrence and secondary prevention. However, poor compliance and decreased risk of exposure to malaria necessitate that control strategies be reestablished. Methods: To predict the incidence of malaria according to a control strategy, we proposed a mathematical model for its transmission using epidemiological data from 2010 to 2012. The bene

Objectives: According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, new active tuberculosis (TB) cases have increased since 2001. Some key factors explain and characterize the transmission dynamics of Korean TB infection, such as a higher ratio of latent individuals and a new reporting system implemented in 2001, among others. Methods: We propose a mathematical TB model that includes exogenous reinfection to gain a better understanding of the recent trend for TB incidence. We divide t

Objectives: Mathematical models can be helpful to understand the complex dynamics of human immunodeficiency virus infection within a host. Most of work has studied the interactions of host responses and virus in the presence of active cytotoxic immune cells, which decay to zero when there is no virus. However, recent research highlights that cytotoxic immune cells can be inactive but never be depleted. Methods: We propose a mathematical model to investigate the human immunodeficiency virus dynam

Safflower sprouts were grown under different light frequencies and conditions, including fluorescent whitelight, red LED or blue LED light and darkness. The sprout extracts were tested for their inhibitory effect on melaninsynthesis. Two compounds from safflower sprout extract were isolated and tested for their activities. Safflower seedswere sown in growth chambers set to lights and harvested at 9 days after sowing. Methanolic extracts of safflowersprouts were subjected to melanin synthesis inh

Objectives: We characterized and assessed public health measures, including intensive vaccination and antiviral treatment, implemented during the 2009 influenza pandemic in the Republic of Korea. Methods: A mathematical model for the 2009 influenza pandemic is formulated. The transmission rate, the vaccination rate, the antiviral treatment rate, and the hospitalized rate are estimated using the least-squares method for the 2009 data of the incidence curves of the infected, vaccinated, treated, a

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of modeling frameworks that integrate biological mechanisms with heterogeneous social contact patterns to accurately characterize variant-specific transmission. Motivated by a One Health perspective that connects human infection biology, behavioral dynamics, and environmental transmission factors, we present a data-integrated and mechanistic approach designed to support proactive risk assessment and public-health preparedness. While classical comp

BACKGROUND: Timely and accurate short-term forecasting of Influenza-Like Illness (ILI) is crucial for guiding outbreak response, optimizing healthcare resource allocation, and informing public health interventions. The COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted seasonal ILI dynamics due to widespread nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI), underscored the urgent need for adaptive and reliable forecasting frameworks. METHOD: In this study, we present a novel ensemble modeling approach that combines a mech

Accurate estimation of the time-varying effective reproduction number, R(t), is essential for interpreting transmission dynamics and informing public health actions. Incidence-based approaches can be biased when behavioral change and surveillance performance alter realized infectiousness and the timing of observed cases. We developed a behavior- and surveillance-informed framework tailored to the Korean context (Feb 2020–Jan 2022). National epidemiological data (20,155 linked infector–infectee p

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a measurement tool for burnout in general hospital nurses and verify its reliability and validity. Methods: Construct factors were extracted through an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with nurses. Psychometric testing was conducted with 550 nurses in a general hospital. Data were analyzed using validity and reliability testing. Results: As a result of factor analysis, 4 factors and 26 items were selected. The burnout factors o

BACKGROUND: The global spread of COVID-19 has underscored the vital need for precise tracing of individuals involved in transmitting the virus through contact tracing. It is crucial to identify both those who spread the virus (infectors) and those who contract it (infectees) in order to gain a detailed understanding of the transmission dynamics. METHODS: We investigate age-specific infection patterns and their impacts by analyzing a unique dataset of the COVID-19 infection network in South Korea

Supplementary figures. Figure S1. Outbreak simulations for MERS that demonstrate the potential for multi-modal outbreaks characterized by larger total size and duration that result from low-probability super-spreading events. Figure S2. Outbreak simulations for SARS that demonstrate the potential for multi-modal outbreaks characterized by larger total size and duration that result from low-probability super-spreading events. Figure S3. Time series of incident cases of MERS and SARS outbreaks dis

Supplementary figures. Figure S1. Outbreak simulations for MERS that demonstrate the potential for multi-modal outbreaks characterized by larger total size and duration that result from low-probability super-spreading events. Figure S2. Outbreak simulations for SARS that demonstrate the potential for multi-modal outbreaks characterized by larger total size and duration that result from low-probability super-spreading events. Figure S3. Time series of incident cases of MERS and SARS outbreaks dis

This study aimed to investigate the concentrations of nonpersistent endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in human milk through a literature review and to affirm the association between EDCs and lifestyle factors based on the reviewed literature. We analyzed studies reporting EDC concentrations in breast milk from literature published on Google Scholar and PubMed between 2000 and 2022. In Korea, most EDC concentrations in breast milk were comparable

Objectives: It is critical to implement effective multiple countermeasures to mitigate or retain the spread of pandemic influenza. We propose a mathematical pandemic influenza model to assess the effectiveness of multiple countermeasures implemented in 2009. Methods: Age-specific parameters, including the transmission rate, the proportion of asymptomatic individuals, the vaccination rate, the social distancing rate, and the antiviral treatment rate are estimated using the least-square method cal