• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.36-40
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• 2016

Red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization results from genetic disparity of RBC antigens between donor and recipients. The discrepancy of RBC antibody screening test occurs when the results of red cell tests do not agree with those of the serum test. In order to select the proper blood units for transfusion, clarification of the cause of discrepancies is essential. The RBC antibody screening test is an easy, quick, and reliable method for detection of clinically significant antibodies. Antibody screening and identification is recommended prior to transfusion to determine whether there is blood group incompatibility. We reported that phenotyping for E, D, M, E+c, and C+e antibody screening test should be extended. Therefore, these results indicate that anti-D and anti-E alloantibodies were major risk factors for haemolytic disease of the newborn or delayed haemolytic transfusion reactions in this study population. We suggested that its antibody screening be adapted to blood safety interventions. Targeted screening of selected recipients at risk offers less value than universal antibody screening, and more research is needed to determine the real incidence of this national condition.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.57-61
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• 2016

Isovaleric acidemia (IVA) is an autosomal recessively inherited organic acid disorder due to a defect of the enzyme isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase in the leucine metabolic pathway. Deficiency of this enzyme results in the accumulation of derivatives of isovaleryl-CoA. In acute illness in IVA, isovaleric acid and its derivatives accumulate and profound metabolic acidosis with ketosis, characteristic pungent body odor, hypoglycemia, and hyperammonemia can be developed. Additionally, recurrent vomiting, failure to thrive, developmental delay, epilepsy and mental retardation are chronic presenting symptoms and signs for IVA. On the result of newborn screening for inherited metabolic disorders, increased levels of isovalerylcarnitine (C5) are shown. However, C5 elevation can be accompanied with short/branched-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (SBCAD) and therapy with certain antibiotics containing pivalic acid. Quantitative measurement of organic acids in urine and acylcarnitine profiles in plasma are necessary to differential diagnosis. Molecular genetic analysis of the IVD gene for IVA and ACADSB is also helpful to confirm IVA and SBCAD deficiency, respectively. Considering that IVA can be associated with significant morbidity and mortality at acute presentation of metabolic crisis, early diagnosis prior to the onset of symptoms by newborn screening enable to introduction of early treatment and prevention of acute and chronic complications.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

Newborn screening (NBS) is important if early intervention is effective in a disorder and if there are sensitive and specific biochemical markers to detect disorder. Methionine is a useful marker to detect abnormal methionine-homocysteine metabolism, especially homocystinuria which needs urgent medical intervention. However, hypermethioninemia could occur in other metabolic disorder including liver disease, tyrosinemia type I, methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) I/III deficiency, glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) deficiency, or adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase deficiency. However, experience with NBS for homocystinurias and methylation disorders is limited. Especially, MAT I/III deficiency which is the most common cause of persistent hypermethioninemia have two inheritance, autosomal recessive (AR) and autosomal dominant (AD), and their clinical manifestation is different between AR and AD. Here, author reviewed recent articles of guideline and proposed guideline for homocystinuria and methylation disorder.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.6-13
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• 2011

All newborn infants with clinically significant bleeding should be evaluated for a hemostatic deficit. Medical history should include the following data: familial bleeding disorders, maternal illness and medication, age of bleeding onset, and prophylactic administration of vitamin K. The first essential step for evaluating bleeding neonates is determining whether the baby is sick or well. The physician should also evaluate the extent of the bleeding, features of bleeding lesions, and other abnormal findings from the physical examination. Skeletal anomalies may provide diagnostic clues. Depending on the clinical features and results of screening tests, other tests including coagulation factors may be useful for determining the diagnosis. All laboratory results must be considered in the context of age-related reference values. The platelet function analyzer provides a promising alternative to bleeding time. Fibrin degradation products and D-dimers are used for screening and specially testing fibrinolytic activity, respectively. The Apt test may help to rule out factors derived from maternal blood. Radiologic imaging studies are important because asymptomatic intracranial hemorrhages are common in neonates.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2013

Specific genetic conditions may lead to sudden unexpected deaths in infancy, such as inborn errors of fatty acid oxidation and genetic disorders of cardiac ion channels. The disease may present dramatically with severe hypoketotic hypoglycemia, Reye syndrome or sudden death, typically with a peak of frequency around 3-6 month, whilst neonatal sudden death is quite rare. When undetected, approximately 20-25% of infants will die or suffer permanent neurologic impairment as a consequence of the first acute metabolic decompensation. Meanwhile, the advent of newborn screening for metabolic diseases has revealed populations of patients with disorders of fatty acid oxidation (FAO), the most frequent of which is medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) deficiency. Without this screening, affected individuals would likely succumb to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Here we describe an overview of sudden infant death syndrome and inherited metabolic disorder.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.61 no.7
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• pp.221-225
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• 2018

Purpose: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is the most common endocrine disorder in children. Thyroid hormone deprivation results not only in mental retardation but also growth retardation. This study investigates the final height (FH) in Korean patients with CH detected by newborn screening and examines factors that may affect the FH. Methods: The medical records of Korean CH patients (n=45) were reviewed. The FH was examined and target height (TH) was calculated based on mid-parental height. The FH z score (FHZ) and TH z score (THZ) were computed using the 2007 Korean National Growth Chart. The FHZ and THZ were compared with a Student t test. The impact of the etiology of CH (athyreosis, dyshormonogenesis, ectopic thyoid, hypoplastic thyroid), initial serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) level, initial free thyroxine (T4) level, and time of therapy initiation based on FH was assessed. Results: The mean FHZ was $0.10{\pm}1.01$ for male patients and $-0.11{\pm}1.09$ for female patients. There were no significant differences between FHZ and THZ for both female (P=0.356) and male patients (P=0.237). No significant relationship was found between FH and the etiology of CH, initial TSH level, initial free T4 level, and the time of therapy initiation. Conclusion: Early intervention and satisfactory management do not appear to impede growth in Korean patients with CH. Thus, early detection and proper management of patients with CH detected by newborn screening program are necessary.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.98-100
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• 2015

Short-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (SCAD) deficiency is a rare mitochondrial fatty-acid oxidation disorder that is inherited as an autosomal recessive pattern. SCAD deficiency is caused by mutations in the ACADS gene (Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase, Short-chain, OMIM #606885), which encodes SCAD, the mitochondrial enzyme that catalyzes the first reaction in the beta-oxidation of fatty acids four to six carbons in length. Here, we describe one Korean pediatric case of SCAD deficiency, which was diagnosed during newborn screening through tandem mass spectrometry. An increased concentration of butyrylcarnitine was detected on the newborn screening test, and the urine organic acid analysis showed increased urinary excretion of ethylmalonic acid. The patient has been asymptomatic and has shown normal growth and development by 8 months of age without any intervention during follow-up period.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.27-30
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• 2010

3-Methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase deficiency (3-MCCD) is an autosomal-recessive inborn error of leucine catabolism caused by the deficiency of 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase (3-MCC). With the introduction of tandem mass spectrometry in newborn screening, this disorder has been identified with unexpectedly high prevalence. The clinical manifestations of 3-MCCD are highly variable ranging from asymptomatic to severe neurological manifestations. 3-MCC is an heteromeric enzyme consisting of ${\alpha}$ - and ${\beta}$ - subunits, encoded by the MCCC1 and the MCCC2 gene, respectively. In the currentreport, a Korean patient with 3-MCCD is described. She was identified by newborn screening test, and has been asymptomatic with normal development and intelligence up to 3.8 years of age. She carries p.[D280Y]+[D280Y] mutations in the MCCC2 gene.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.69-72
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• 2011

Defective synthesis of the steroid hormones by the adrenal cortex has profound effects on human development and homeostasis. Due to the time-consuming chromatography procedure combined with mass spectrometry, the matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization method coupled to the linear ion-trap tandem mass spectrometry (MALDI-LTQ-MS/MS) was developed for quantitative analysis of 10 adrenal steroids in human serum. Although MALDI-MS can be introduced for its applicability as a high-throughput screening method, it has a limitation on reproducibility within and between samples, which renders poor reproducibility for quantification. For quantitative MALDI-MS/MS analysis, the stable-isotope labeled internal standards were used and the conditions of crystallization were tested. The precision and accuracy were 3.1~35.5% and 83.8~138.5%, respectively, when a mixture of 10 mg/mL ${\alpha}$-cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid in 0.2% TFA of 70% acetonitrile was used as the MALDI matrix. The limit of quantification ranged from 5 to 340 ng/mL, and the linearity as a correlation coefficient was higher than 0.988 for all analytes in the calibration range. Clinical applications include quantitative analyses of patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The devised MALDI-MS/MS technique could be successfully applied to diagnosis of clinical samples.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.60 no.11
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• pp.353-358
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• 2017

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a simple screening tool to assess hearing loss in newborns. A derived score was compared with the standard clinical practice tool. Methods: This cohort study was designed to screen the hearing of newborns using transiently evoked otoacoustic emission and auditory brain stem response, and to determine the risk factors associated with hearing loss of newborns in 3 tertiary hospitals in Northern Thailand. Data were prospectively collected from November 1, 2010 to May 31, 2012. To develop the risk score, clinical-risk indicators were measured by Poisson risk regression. The regression coefficients were transformed into item scores dividing each regression-coefficient with the smallest coefficient in the model, rounding the number to its nearest integer, and adding up to a total score. Results: Five clinical risk factors (Craniofacial anomaly, Ototoxicity, Birth weight, family history [Relative] of congenital sensorineural hearing loss, and Apgar score) were included in our COBRA score. The screening tool detected, by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, more than 80% of existing hearing loss. The positive-likelihood ratio of hearing loss in patients with scores of 4, 6, and 8 were 25.21 (95% confidence interval [CI], 14.69-43.26), 58.52 (95% CI, 36.26-94.44), and 51.56 (95% CI, 33.74-78.82), respectively. This result was similar to the standard tool (The Joint Committee on Infant Hearing) of 26.72 (95% CI, 20.59-34.66). Conclusion: A simple screening tool of five predictors provides good prediction indices for newborn hearing loss, which may motivate parents to bring children for further appropriate testing and investigations.