• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.635-644
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• 2023

Objectives: This study analyzed laboratory serum data results before and after patients took herbal medicine to confirm the clinical safety of herbal medicine. In addition, in the event of liver damage, the case was analyzed to confirm the characteristics of liver damage and the possibility of liver damage caused by herbal medicine. Methods: A retrospective chart review of the effects of herbal medicine on liver function in patients diagnosed with functional dyspepsia was conducted. The electronic medical records of 128 patients in a single hospital were reviewed. Results: The statistical analysis revealed a statistically significant decrease in liver function-related laboratory serum data after taking herbal medicine (p<0.05). In addition, among 128 patients, there were two cases of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) (1.56%). Conclusion: Taking herbal medicine prescribed by experts does not significantly affect liver function in patients with functional dyspepsia. Rather, the liver levels of the subjects showed a significant decrease after taking herbal medicine. To support these results, further large-scale multicenter prospective studies are necessary.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 2009

Rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH) are the most important drug for the treatment of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mutations correlated to rifampicin and isoniazid-resistance have been detected in rpoB gene and katG gene, respectively. Of the rifampicin-resistant isolates, 90% showed mutations in rpoB gene at codon 507 to 533. Isoniazid-resistant isolates analysed had a mutation in katG at codon 315. The aim of this study is to develop a pyrosequencing-based approach for rapid detection of ripampin or isoniazid resistant M. tuberculosis based on characterization of all possible mutation in the target region. For this study, the DNA selected from 35 cases of MTB PCR positive clinical sample such as bronchial washing, sputum, and pleural fluid. RIF or INH resistant was analyzed by pyrosequencing data of rpoB and katG gene. 28 (80%) and 7 (20%) of 35 MTB PCR positive DNAs were occured rifampicin-sensitivity and resistant, respectively. For INH, 30 (85.7%) and 5 (14.5%) cases were detected isoniazid-sensitivity and resistant, respectively. When pyrosequencing analysis was compared with ABI sequencing analysis, both analysis were presented same result, but pyrosequencing analysis was more rapid than ABI sequencing analysis. In conclusion, we found that pyrosequencing technology offers high accuracy, specificity, short turn around time and a high throughput in detection of rifampicin or isoniazid resistance in M. tuberculosis.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.58 no.8
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• pp.294-300
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• 2015

Purpose: It is difficult to differentiate between central precocious puberty (CPP) and premature thelarche (PT) in girls. The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic usefulness of pelvic ultrasonography to distinguish between CPP and PT in girls with early breast development. Methods: This study included girls with early breast development who visited the clinic between January 2012 and December 2013. Clinical, laboratory, and pelvic ultrasonographic data were evaluated. CPP and PT were confirmed using the gonadotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test. Results: A total of 248 girls aged 7-8 years were included, among whom 186 (75.0%) had CPP and 62 (25.0%) had PT. The uterine length, transverse diameter, fundus, volume, and cross-sectional area were significantly larger in the CPP group (uterine length, $2.45{\pm}0.50cm$ vs. $2.63{\pm}0.49cm$, P=0.015; uterine volume, $0.95{\pm}0.62cm^3$ vs. $1.35{\pm}0.76cm^3$, P<0.001). However, there were no differences in the fundus/cervix ratio and ovarian measurements. In receiver operating characteristic analysis, a uterine volume of at least $1.07cm^3$ was the most predictive parameter for CPP with an area under the curve of 0.670 (95% confidence interval, 0.593-0.747). Conclusion: Uterine measurements by pelvic ultrasonography in girls with early pubertal development were significantly larger in the CPP group. However, the diagnostic value of ultrasonographic parameters was not high because of a considerable overlap of values between the two groups. Therefore, pelvic ultrasonography in combination with clinical and laboratory tests may be useful to distinguish between CPP and PT in girls.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.190-196
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• 2005

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is uncommon in developed countries, yet is common in underdeveloped and developing countries. Infection rate of H. pylori is minimally influenced by economic, environmental, and public health status and genetic factors. Korea is a developing country with a high incidence of H. pylori infection and gastric carcinoma, which is one of the leading causes of death. For this reason, accurate clinical and pathologic data on H. pylori-associated disease are very important. Intestinal metaplasia accompanies chronic gastritis and increases the risk of gastric carcinoma. For this reason, the relationship between H. pylori infection and intestinal metaplasia is very closely linked. Because of this, as the antecedent condition is guessed, it examines the relationship of the H. pylori and the intestinal metaplasia. Intestinal metaplasia is thought to be the basis in the development of intestinal type gastric carcinomas. Recent investigations showed that inflammatory reaction in the gastric fundus affect the development of gastric carcinogenesis. To verify neutrophilic activity in the gastric fundus and development of intestinal metaplasia in both gastric fundus and antral mucosa, their relationship was studied using 159 healthy patients who had undergone gastric endoscopic biopsies without any identifiable pathologic disesaes. When neutrophilic activity accompanied, incidence of intestinal metaplasia was significantly increased (p<0.05). H. pylori infection was statistically and significantly associated with the presence of intestinal metaplasia (p<0.05). These results suggest that H. pylori infection affected the development of intestinal metaplasia in the stomach. These results will help our understanding of H. pylori infection in the pathogenesis of intestinal metaplasia, a preneoplastic condition of the stomach. To reduce the incidence of gastric adenocarcinoma, eradication treatment of H. pylori is recommended when there's a neutrophilic activity in the gastric fundus.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.2519-2525
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• 2016

There are several existing reports of microarray chip use for assessment of altered gene expression in different diseases. In fact, there have been over 1.5 million assays of this kind performed over the last twenty years, which have influenced clinical and translational research studies. The most commonly used DNA microarray platforms are Affymetrix GeneChip and Quality Control Software along with their GeneChip Probe Arrays. These chips are created using several quality controls to confirm the success of each assay, but their actual impact on gene expression profiles had not been previously analyzed until the appearance of several bioinformatics tools for this purpose. We here performed a data mining analysis, in this case specifically focused on ovarian cancer, as well as healthy ovarian tissue and ovarian cell lines, in order to confirm quality control results and associated variation in gene expression profiles. The microarray data used in our research were downloaded from ArrayExpress and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) and analyzed with Expression Console Software using RMA, MAS5 and Plier algorithms. The gene expression profiles were obtained using Partek Genomics Suite v6.6 and data were visualized using principal component analysis, heat map, and Venn diagrams. Microarray quality control analysis showed that roughly 40% of the microarray files were false negative, demonstrating over- and under-estimation of expressed genes. Additionally, we confirmed the results performing second analysis using independent samples. About 70% of the significant expressed genes were correlated in both analyses. These results demonstrate the importance of appropriate microarray processing to obtain a reliable gene expression profile.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.495-499
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• 2004

Because the education system that based on objective data is needed for the beginning technologists in the department of medicine laboratory, development of the CAI system based on Gram-Stain images is needed in clinical microbiology field. So, in this study, we implemented CAI system based on Gram-Stain images for medical technologists under Web using multimedia toolbook. Because this system is implemented under Web, more and more beginning technologists can have a remote-education beyond time and space, can save human power and time that needed due to hold in common of educational information, and cannot learn mistaken microbiology images because of learning execution based on objective data. Also, implemented system brings a higher interest and a learning effect to medical technologies because of hyper-media method that offered from toolbook. In the future, it will be needed a continuous acceptance of changing knowledge and it will be useful system for technologist in case of applying various examinations based Gram-Stain method of this study.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.297-300
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• 2019

In countries with FMD vaccination, as in Korea, typical clinical signs do not appear, and even in FMD positive cases, it is difficult to isolate the FMDV or obtain whole genome sequence. To overcome this problem, more rapid and simple NGS system is required to control FMD in Korea. FMDV (O/Boeun/ SKR/2017) RNA was extracted and sequenced using Ion Torrent's bench-top sequencer with amplicon panel with optimized bioinformatics pipelines. The whole genome sequencing of raw data generated data of 1,839,864 (mean read length 283 bp) reads comprising a total of 521,641,058 (≥Q20 475,327,721). Compared with FMDV (GenBank accession No. MG983730), the FMDV sequences in this study showed 99.83% nucleotide identity. Further study is needed to identify these differences. In this study, fast and robust methods for benchtop next generation sequencing (NGS) system was developed for analysis of Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) whole genome sequences.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.31-37
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• 2021

Purpose: Acetaminophen (APAP) is a widely available drug responsible for a large part of drug-induced hepatotoxicity in developed countries. Although acetaminophen overdose cases in Korea are being continuously reported, there are no reports related to the level of this drug in the patient's blood or of laboratory analysis at emergency departments (ED). This study sought to analyze the acetaminophen overdose cases at a toxicological laboratory and to survey APAP analysis services offered at select EDs. Methods: We analyzed the demographic and analytic data at a toxicological laboratory run by the National Emergency Medical Center (NMC) in 2019-2020. We surveyed the APAP laboratory service in the 38 regional emergency medical centers (EMCs) and 68 local EMCs near the toxicological laboratory. Results: We studied 175 acute poisoning cases (112 women) with positive blood APAP results (mean age 47.0±24.1 years). Suicide attempts comprised 40.0% of the cases and 30.3% APAP overdose events. In the univariate analysis, we observed that patients were significantly younger, with fewer underlying medical diseases. There were a higher number of APAP overdose events, more favorable initial mental status, more toxic quantity intake in the above treatment line group (p<0.05), In multivariate analysis, the toxic amount intake was significantly more frequent in the above treatment line group (p<0.01). Hospital APAP analysis services were available in six EMCs (3/38 regional and 3/68 local). The hospital blood APAP level reporting intervals were shorter than outside-hospital laboratory services (p<0.01, regional 7.0±3.0 vs. 40.6±27.5, local 5.3±3.1 vs. 57.9±45.1 hours). The NMC toxicological laboratory reporting interval was shorter than the other outside-hospital laboratories (p<0.01, regional 5.7±0.6 vs. 50.2±22.7 local 7.5±3.0 vs. 70.5±41.5 hours). Conclusion: Over the treatment line group, toxic amount intake was significantly more frequent. Only six of 106 EMCs have their own APAP analysis service in their hospitals.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2017

Measuring the pulse wave velocity (PWV) is a non-invasive method for evaluating the stiffness of the vessel wall. While previous studies investigated the association of uric acid level with arterial stiffness, most did not consider smoking status and obesity as covariates. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between uric acid levels and arterial stiffness, considering smoking status and obesity. We studied 3390 subjects (1940 males and 1450 females). Abnormal PWV was also defined as the highest quartile of values in the subjects. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Approximately 41.9% of men and 3.7% of women were current smokers. Prevalence of hypertension was 11.4% in men and 7.0% in women. In women, hyperuricemia was associated with abnormal PWV (OR 1.58; 95% CI 1.03~2.43). Hyperuricemia was also associated with abnormal PWV (OR 2.37; 95% CI 1.01~5.59) in non- or light male smokers with normal blood pressure. This study suggests that uric acid is associated with arterial stiffness in women and non-smoking men.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.191-196
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• 2006

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors may be acting several decades before CVD becomes manifest. Data from young subjects may be valuable in further elucidating at this issue. We evaluated the association between baPWV (brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity) and cardiovascular risk factors in apparently healthy young adults. A total of 46 male and 91 female adolescents aged $18{\sim}25 years$ were studied. baPWV increased in a dose-responsive manner as the number of metabolic syndrome components. In both gender groups, baPWV was positively correlated with age. In males, waist, circumference total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol were positively correlated with baPWV, and in females, blood pressure (BP) was positively correlated with baPWV. Age, gender, mean BP, and Homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) were found to be independent factors associated with baPWV levels. In conclusion, mean BP, age, gender, and HOMA-IR were associated with baPWV in young adults. This result suggests that multiple cardiovascular risk factors may be associated with an increased risk of arterial stiffness in young adults.