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Using a sample of 15,741 graduates from the 2019 Korean Graduates Occupational Mobility National Survey, the study examines the effects of different types of vocational education, job skills-enhancing training and the quality management of university education on graduates employability. The results show that students' participation in internships and the suitability and usefulness of the university's curriculum have a great impact. Interestingly, volunteer activities had a negative impact on the employability from all types of university and four-year university graduates.

To test the Child Behavior Checklist's (CBCL/1½-5) ability to screen for autism spectrum disorders (ASD), we studied Korean preschoolers: 46 with ASD, 111 with developmental delay (DD), 71 with other psychiatric disorders (OPD), and 228 non-referred (NR). The ASD group scored significantly higher than the other groups on the Withdrawn and DSM-Pervasive Developmental Problems (DSM-PDP) scales as well as attaining higher scores (p < 0.001) on seven items reflecting ASD. With a T = 65 cutpoint on the DSM-PDP scale, sensitivity was 80% for identifying ASD relative to the other three groups, but specificity varied across groups: NR = 87%, OPD = 55%, DD = 60%, replicating in a non-Western sample results from previous studies. Results suggested that the CBCL/1½-5 performs best in Level 1 screening, namely differentiating children with ASD from children in the general population.

Purpose: In this study, the authors aimed to compare vocabulary size, lexical composition, and late talking in large samples of Korean and U.S. children ages 18-35 months. Method: Data for 2,191 Korean children (211 children recruited "offline" through preschools, and 1,980 recruited "online" via the Internet) and 274 U.S. children were obtained using the Language Development Survey (LDS). Results: Mean vocabulary size was slightly larger in the offline than the online group, but the groups were acquiring almost identical words. Mean vocabulary size did not differ by country; girls and older children had larger vocabularies in both countries. The Korean-U.S. Q correlations for percentage use of LDS words (0.53 and 0.56) indicated considerable concordance across countries in lexical composition. Noun dominance was as large in Korean lexicons as in U.S. lexicons. About half of the most commonly reported words for the Korean and U.S. children were identical. Lexicons of late talkers resembled those of typically developing younger children in the same sample. Conclusions: Despite linguistic and discourse differences between Korean and English, LDS findings indicated considerable cross-linguistic similarity with respect to vocabulary size, lexical composition, and late talking. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

The purpose of this study is to determine the correlation between use of antimicrobials, such as fluoroquinolone, cefoxitin, and cefotaxime, and Escherichia coli resistance using a nationwide database. Nationwide data on antimicrobial consumption for 12 years (2002 to 2013) were acquired from a database of subjects (n = 1,025,340) included in the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort. National antimicrobial resistance rates of E. coli were obtained from the Korean Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, which has been administered by the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since 2002. Fluoroquinolone-resistance rates of E. coli isolated from general hospitals have continuously increased since 2002 and were correlated with nationwide fluoroquinolone use (r = 0.82, P = 0.0012) or ciprofloxacin use (r = 0.90, P<0.0001). Cefotaxime-resistance rates of E. coli isolated from general hospitals markedly increased since 2008 and were correlated with nationwide cefotaxime use (r = 0.94, P<0.0001) or third-generation cephalosporin use (r = 0.96, P<0.0001). Cefoxitin-resistance rates of E. coli isolated from general hospitals peaked in 2010 and significantly correlated with cephamycin use at a two-year interval (r = 0.64, P = 0.0256). In conclusion, consumption of antimicrobials such as fluoroquinolone, cefoxitin, and cefotaxime is well correlated with the resistance rates of E. coli to these agents. This study provides background data for national antimicrobial management policies to reduce antimicrobial resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article develops and tests absorptive capacity’s relationship with one of its important forerunners – systems thinking – which, although postulated as an important element, has received little empirical attention in the absorptive capacity literature. Our contribution lies in the introduction of unique pathways through which systems thinking influences absorptive capacity and how it affects various interrelated dimensions of high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises’ performance, by examining evidence from South Korea’s semiconductor industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Korean Antimicrobial Surveillance System (Kor-GLASS) was established in 2016, which is compatible with the Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System launched by WHO. Here, we report a one-year assessment of Kor-GLASS in 2017, focusing on the antimicrobial resistance of urine isolates. Methods Non-duplicated clinical isolates of E. coli and K. pneumoniae recovered from urine cultures were collected from 8 sentinel hospitals. Demographic information, infection origin (hospital origin or community origin), and admission type were investigated. Bacterial species were confirmed using a matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested by disk diffusion and broth microdilution methods. Results During the one-year period of surveillance from January 2017 to December 2017, a total of 9,130 (11.9%) isolates of target pathogens were recovered from urine specimens of 76,625 patients with suspected urinary tract infection (UTI). The rate of culture-positive was the highest in the < 1 age group (AG) (22.5%), stiffly decreased in the 5–<15 AG to 3.4%, and gradually increased with age up to 19.6% in the ≥ 85 AG. The mean occurrence of UTI per 10,000 patient-days for inpatients was 19.3 (range, 3.4–46.1) for E. coli and 4.0 (range, 1.5–7.3) for K. pneumoniae. Resistance rate for cefotaxime was higher than those for ceftazidime both in E. coli (31.3% vs. 10.3%) and K. pneumoniae isolates (39.0% vs. 29.8%). Resistance rate for ciprofloxacin in E. coli isolates was 40.9%, and that in K. pneumoniae isolates was 31.9%. Only 4.9% and 10.9% of E. coli and K. pneumoniae isolates exhibited resistance phenotype to cefoxitin, respectively. Ertapenem-resistance was more frequently identified in K. pneumoniae isolates (1.6%) than in E. coli isolates (0.1%). Multidrug-resistance (MDR) phenotype was identified in 61.4% of the E. coli and 44.8% of K. pneumoniae urine isolates. Conclusion Kor-GLASS generated well-curated surveillance data devoid of collection bias or isolate duplication. Cefoxitin was an alternative treatment to ciprofloxacin for urinary tract infections caused by Enterobacteriaceae. About one-half of urine isolates belonged to either MDR or XDR. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Antibiotic resistance is a significant threat to public health not only in healthcare setting but also in community because antimicrobial-resistant infections can be transmitted in community. Although it is essential to know whether there are particular reasons that caused antibiotic-resistant infection in community, there is lack of evidence regarding risk factors for community-onset extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae bloodstream infection (ESBL-KP BSI) in South Korea. In the present study, we aimed to reveal risk factors for community-onset ESBL-KP BSI. Methods From May 2016 to April 2017, patients with community-onset KP BSI (n = 408) from six sentinel hospitals in South Korea were included. The hospitals are located in different districts throughout South Korea, and had a total of 5,194 beds, ranged from 715 to 1,050 beds per hospital. Admission history and previous usage of antibiotics and medical devices before bacteremia were acquired from National Health Insurance claims data. Risk factors of ESBL-KP BSI were analyzed with a multivariable logistic regression model. PCR and sequencing for the identification of genes encoding ESBLs, and multilocus sequence typing were performed. Results Of 408 patient of community-onset KP BSI, 70 (17%) were ESBL-KP BSI patients. ESBL-KP isolates most frequently carried CTX-M-1-group ESBLs (74%, n = 52), followed by CTX-M-9-group ESBLs (16%, n = 11). Most prevalent sequence type (ST) among ESBL-KP isolates was ST48 (14%, n = 10). Among non-ESBL-KP isolates, ST23 was most prevalent (21%, n = 70). Analyzing with multivariate analysis, recent admission to long-term care hospital within 3 months (OR, 5.7; 95% CI, 2.1–15.6; P = 0.001), previous usage of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (OR, 11.5; 95% CI, 2.7–48.6; P = 0.001), expanded-spectrum cephalosporin (OR, 2.2; 95% CI, 1.2–3.9; P = 0.01), and previous use of urinary catheter (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.1–4.5; P = 0.02) were identified as independent risk factors for community-onset ESBL-KP BSI. Conclusion Recent admission to long-term care hospital, use of urinary catheter, recent usage of antibiotics were identified as risk factors for community-onset ESBL-KP BSI. Strict antibiotic stewardship and infection control measures in long-term care hospital are needed. Disclosures All authors: No reported disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The molecular epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance of Clostridioides difficile were studied in South Korea in 2017 as part of a National Surveillance System. From February to May 2017, all non-duplicate isolates of C. difficile were recovered from patients who were suspected to have C. difficile infection and collected from 6 referral hospitals representing the 6 regions in South Korea. We performed PCRs for the toxin gene, PCR ribotyping, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), antimicrobial susceptibility testing by agar dilution according to the recommendations of the CLSI and detection of antimicrobial resistance genes such as erm B, cat D, tet M, van Z and nim R by PCR. Of 331 C. difficile isolates, 257 (77.6%) were toxigenic and the prevalence of strains producing binary toxin (CDT) was 5.1% (13/257). A total of 52 different ribotype (RT) patterns were found. RT018 was the most common (25.1% of all isolates), and RT014/020, RT002 and RT012 were also common. RT010 was most common non-toxigenic strain. MLST analysis of randomly selected 72 C. difficile isolates identified 46 sequence types (STs), of which three were new and not in the PubMLST library. There was a good correlation between MLST and RT as following: ST1 (RT027), ST8 (RT002), ST11 (RT078), ST17 (RT018), ST35 (RT046), ST37 (RT017), ST42 (RT106), ST53 (RT103), ST81 (RT369), and ST99 (RT070). All toxigenic isolates were susceptible to metronidazole and vancomycin (MIC ≤ 2 mg/L). For rifaximin, 24% of toxigenic isolates were resistant. Of randomly selected 106 toxigenic isolates, resistance rates for ampicillin, cefotetan, clindamycin, imipenem, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, and moxifloxacin were 48%, 46%, 64%, 54%, 0%, 6% and 52% respectively and frequencies of various resistance genes were 62.3% for erm B, 0.9% cat D and 10.4% tet M. RTs018, 002, 017 and 369 showed high MICs to various antimicrobial agents and multi-drug resistance was common also. • In year 2017, 331 C. difficile isolates were collected in 6 hospitals from South Korea. • Of 331 recovered isolates, 77.6% were toxigenic and 5.1% were binary toxin positive. • RT018 were predominated (25.1% of all isolates), followed by RT014/020 (7.3%), RT002 (6.6%). • All toxigenic strains were susceptible to metronidazole and vancomycin (MIC ≤ 2 mg/L). • RTs 018, 002, 017 exhibited high-level resistance to various antibiotics, especially to FQs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]