• Title/Summary/Keyword: Screening limits

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Development of Two Quantitative Real-Time PCR Diagnostic Kits for HPV Isolates from Korea

  • Jeeva, Subbiah;Kim, Nam-Il;Jang, In-Kwon;Choi, Tae-Jin
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.22 no.10
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    • pp.1350-1358
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    • 2012
  • Viral pathogens, alongside other pathogens, have major effects on crustacean aquaculture. Hepatopancreatic parvovirus (HPV) is an emerging virus in the shrimp industry and has been detected in shrimp farms worldwide. The HPV genome has greater diversity than other shrimp viruses owing to its wide host range and geographical distribution. Therefore, developing diagnostic tools is essential to detect even small copy numbers from the target region of native HPV isolates. We have developed two easy to use quantitative real-time PCR kits, called Green Star and Dual Star, which contain all of the necessary components for real-time PCR, including HPV primers, using the primers obtained from the sequences of HPV isolates from Korea, and analyzed their specificity, efficiency, and reproducibility. These two kits could detect from 1 to $1{\times}10^9$ copies of cloned HPV DNA. The minimum detection limits obtained from HPV-infected shrimp were $7.74{\times}10^1$ and $9.06{\times}10^1$ copies in the Green Star and Dual Star assay kits, respectively. These kits can be used for rapid, sensitive, and efficient screening for HPV isolates from Korea before the introduction of postlarval stages into culture ponds, thereby decreasing the incidence of early development of the disease.

The quality of life of elderly people with hearing loss selected by Hearing handicap inventory for elderly (HHIE) (Hearing handicap inventory for elderly(HHIE)로 선별한 난청 노인들의 삶의 질)

  • Lee, Hyun-Jung;Heo, Seung-Deok;Hwang, Soo-Yeon
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Medicine & Therapy Science
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    • v.10 no.2
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    • pp.39-45
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    • 2018
  • Objective: The aimes of this study is to analyze the effects of presbycusis on the quality of life. Method: 47-elderly were participated. The participants were divided into the suspected hearing impaired group (N=18) and the within normal limits (WNL) group (N=29). One-way ANOVA was performed to determine the association between the HHIE and WHOQOL-BREF scores by age group, and independent t-test was carried out to analyze the inter-group relations. Results: The scores in WHOQOL-BREF differed significantly by age group (p=.011): people in their sixties scored $3.7{\pm}.62$, those in their seventies $3.3{\pm}.56$, and those in their eighties $2.8{\pm}.60$, with significant differences observed. There were statistically significant inter-group differences (p=.000), with significant differences observed. Conclusion: The quality of life of the elderly were lowered depending on age and hearing impairment.

Label-free and sensitive detection of purine catabolites in complex solutions by surface-enhanced raman spectroscopy

  • Davaa-Ochir, Batmend;Ansah, Iris Baffour;Park, Sung Gyu;Kim, Dong-Ho
    • Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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    • v.55 no.6
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    • pp.342-352
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    • 2022
  • Purine catabolite screening enables reliable diagnosis of certain diseases. In this regard, the development of a facile detection strategy with high sensitivity and selectivity is demanded for point-of-care applications. In this work, the simultaneous detection of uric acid (UA), xanthine (XA), and hypoxanthine (HX) was carried out as model purine catabolites by surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). The detection assay was conducted by employing high-aspect ratio Au nanopillar substrates coupled with in-situ Au electrodeposition on the substrates. The additional modification of the Au nanopillar substrates via electrodeposition was found to be an effective method to encapsulate molecules in solution into nanogaps of growing Au films that increase metal-molecule contact and improve substrate's sensitivity and selectivity. In complex solutions, the approach facilitated ternary identification of UA, XA, and HX down to concentration limits of 4.33 𝜇M, 0.71 𝜇M, and 0.22 𝜇M, respectively, which are comparable to their existing levels in normal human physiology. These results demonstrate that the proposed platform is reliable for practical point-of-care analysis of biofluids where solution matrix effects greatly reduce selectivity and sensitivity for rapid on-site disease diagnosis.

Clinical Value of a Desktop Spirometer (HI-801) for Spirometry Screening (선별 검사를 위한 탁상용 폐활량기 (HI-801)의 임상적 유용성에 관한 고찰)

  • Choi, Hye Sook;Choi, Cheon Woong;Park, Myung Jae;Kang, Hong Mo;Yoo, Hong Ji
    • Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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    • v.62 no.4
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    • pp.276-283
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    • 2007
  • Background: A national health care initiative recommends routine spirometry screening of all smokers over age 45 or patients with respiratory symptoms. In response to the recommendation, new, simple, and inexpensive desktop spirometers for the purpose of promoting widespread spirometric screening were marketed. The performance of these spirometers was evaluated in vivo testing with healthy subjects. However, the clinical setting allows spirometric assessment of various pathologic combinations of flow and volume. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of a desktop spirometer to a standard laboratory spirometer, in a clinical setting with pathologic pulmonary function. Method: In a health check-up center, where screening pulmonary funct test was performed using the HI-801 spirometer. Subjects who revealed the ventilation defect in screening spirometry, performed the spirometry again using the standard Vmax spectra 22d spirometer in a tertiary care hospital pulmonary function laboratory. Pulmonary function test with both spirometer was performed according to the guidelines of the American Thoracic Society. Results: 109 patients were enrolled. Pulmonary function measurements (FVC, $FEV_1$, PEFR, FEF25%-75%) from the HI-801 correlated closely (r=0.94, 0.93, 0.81, 0.84, respectively) with those performed with the Vmax spectra 22d and showed the good limits of agreement and differences between the 2 devices; FVC +0.35 L, $FEV_1$ +0.16 L, PEFR +1.85 L/s, FEF25%-75%-0.13 L/s. With the exception of $FEV_1$, FEF25%-75%, these differences were significant(p<0.05) but small. Conclusion: The HI-801 spirometer is comparable to the standard laboratory spirometer, Vmax spectra 22d, with high accurary for $FEV_1$ and FVC and acceptable differences for clinical use.

"Liability of Air Carriers for Injuries Resulting from International Aviation Terrorism" (국제항공(國際航空)테러리즘으로 인한 여객손해(旅客損害)에 대한 운송인(運送人)의 책임(責任))

  • Choi, Wan-Sik
    • The Korean Journal of Air & Space Law and Policy
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    • v.1
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    • pp.47-85
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    • 1989
  • The Fundamental purpose of the Warsaw Convention was to establish uniform rules applicable to international air transportation. The emphasis on the benefits of uniformity was considered important in the beginning and continues to be important to the present. If the desire for uniformity is indeed the mortar which holds the Warsaw system together then it should be possible to agree on a worldwide liability limit. This liability limit would not be so unreasonable, that it would be impossible for nations to adhere to it. It would preclude any national supplemental compensation plan or Montreal Agreement type of requirement in any jurisdiction. The differentiation of liability limits by national requirement seems to be what is occurring. There is a plethora of mandated limits and Montreal Agreement type 'voluntary' limits. It is becoming difficult to find more than a few major States where an unmodified Warsaw Convention or Hague Protocol limitation is still in effect. If this is the real world in the 1980's, then let the treaty so reflect it. Upon reviewing the Warsaw Convention, its history and the several attempts to amend it, strengths become apparent. Hijackings of international flights have given rise to a number of lawsuits by passengers to recover damages for injuries suffered. This comment is concerned with the liability of an airline for injuries to its passengers resulting from aviation terrorism. In addition, analysis is focused on current airline security measures, particularly the pre-boarding screening system, and the duty of air carriers to prevent weapons from penetrating that system. An airline has a duty to exercise a high degree of care to protect its passengers from the threat of aviation terrorism. This duty would seemingly require the airline to exercise a high degree of care to prevent any passenger from smuggling a weapon or explosive device aboard its aircraft. In the case an unarmed hijacker who boards having no instrument in his possession with which to promote the hoax, a plaintiff-passenger would be hard-pressed to show that the airline was negligent in screening the hijacker prior to boarding. In light of the airline's duty to exercise a high degree of care to provide for the safety of all the passengers on board, an acquiescene to a hijacker's demands on the part of the air carrier could constitute a breach of duty only when it is clearly shown that the carrier's employees knew or plainly should have known that the hijacker was unarmed. A finding of willful misconduct on the part of an air carrier, which is a prerequisite to imposing unlimited liability, remains a question to be determined by a jury using the definition or standard of willful misconduct prevailing in the jurisdiction of the forum court. Through the willful misconduct provision of the Warsaw Convention, air carrier face the possibility of unlimited liability for failure to implement proper preventive precautions against terrorist. Courts, therefore, should broadly construe the willful misconduct provision of the Warsaw Convention in order to find unlimited liability for passenger injuries whenever air carrier security precautions are lacking. In this way, the courts can help ensure air carrier safety and prevention against terrorist attack. Air carriers, therefore, would have an incentive to increase, impose and maintain security precautions designed to thwart such potential terrorist attacks as in the case of Korean Air Lines Flight No.858 incident having a tremendous impact on the civil aviation community. The crash of a commercial airliner, with the attending tragic loss of life and massive destruction of property, always gives rise to shock and indignation. The general opinion is that the legal system could be sufficient, provided that the political will is there to use and apply it effectively. All agreed that the main responsibility for security has to be borne by the governments. I would like to remind all passengers that every discovery of the human spirit may be used for opposite ends; thus, aircraft can be used for air travel but also as targets of terrorism. A state that supports aviation terrorism is responsible for violation of International Aviation Law. Generally speaking, terrorism is a violation of international law. It violates the soverign rights of the states, and the human rights of the individuals. I think that aviation terrorism as becoming an ever more serious issue, has to be solved by internationally agreed and closely co-ordinated measures. We have to contribute more to the creation of a general consensus amongst all states about the need to combat the threat of aviation terrorism.

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Aortic Unfolding Measurement Using Non-Contrast Cardiac CT: Normal Range of Low-Risk Subjects (관상동맥 석회화 CT에서 측정한 대동맥 전개: 저위험 환자군에서의 정상 범위)

  • Ji Won Lee;Byoung Wook Choi
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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    • v.83 no.2
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    • pp.360-371
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    • 2022
  • Purpose This study aimed to assess the factors influencing aortic unfolding (AU) defined by aortic width on coronary artery calcium (CAC) scan and determine the normal limits for AU. Materials and Methods In this retrospective study, we measured AU in 924 asymptomatic subjects who underwent CAC scanning during routine health screening from June 2015 to June 2018. Multivariate regression analysis was used to evaluate the factors influencing AU. After the exclusion of subjects with risk factors associated with AU, 283 subjects were included in the analysis of normal values of AU. Mean AU, standard deviation, and upper normal limit were calculated. Results Sex, age, CAC score, body mass index, body surface area, hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, plasma creatinine, and smoking were significantly associated with AU. The mean AU was 102.2 ± 12.8 mm for men and 93.1 ± 10.7 mm for women. AU increased with advancing age (9.6 mm per decade). Conclusion AU determined from a single measurement on CAC scans was associated with cardiovascular risk factors. The normal limits of AU were defined by age, sex, and body surface area in low-risk subjects in this study.

Development and Evaluation of an Immunochromatographic Assay for Screening Listeria spp. in Pork and Milk

  • Kim, Seong-Hee;Kim, Jin-Young;Han, Woong;Jung, Byeong-Yeal;Chuong, Pham-Due;Joo, Hae-Jin;Ba, Hoa-Van;Son, Won-Geun;Jee, Young-Heun;Yoon, Byoung-Su;Lee, Yong-Soon;Lim, Yoon-Kyu
    • Food Science and Biotechnology
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    • v.16 no.4
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    • pp.515-519
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    • 2007
  • Rapid immunochromatographic assay (ICA) kits were developed using flagella-specific monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and rabbit polyclonal antibodies for screening Listeria spp. in food. The establishment of different formats, MAb 2B1 as capture antibody and MAb 7A3 or rabbit polyclonal antibodies as detector antibody, was compared. The 2 formats of the ICA kit were shown to have specific reactions with Listeria and no cross-reactivity with any of the non-Listeria including Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enteritidis. The detection limits of the ICA kit using the combination of gold-labeled MAb 7A3 and MAb 2B1 showed $1{\times}10^5$ and $1{\times}10^6\;CFU/0.1\;mL$ at 22 and $30^{\circ}C$, respectively. The other format of the ICA kit using the combination of gold-labeled rabbit polyclonal antibodies and MAb 2B1 showed $1{\times}10^6\;CFU/0.1\;mL$ at $22^{\circ}C$ but weak signal at 30 culture. The format utilizing MAb was more sensitive than the one using polyclonal antibodies for capture antibody. Samples contaminated with L. monocytogenes 4b culture (9-10, 5-6, and 1-2 CFU/mL) on pork and pasteurized milk were confirmed as positive results. Current data suggests that this ICA kit is a rapid, simple and effective tool to screen for Listeria spp. in food.

Development of Rapid Analysis Method for Pesticide Residues by GC-MS/MS (GC-MS/MS를 이용한 잔류농약 신속검사법 개발)

  • Choi, Yong-Hoon;Nam, Hye-Seon;Hong, Hye-Mi;Lee, Jin-Ha;Chae, Kab-Ryong;Lee, Jong-Ok;Kim, Hee-Yun;Yoon, Sang-Hyeon
    • The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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    • v.9 no.4
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    • pp.292-302
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    • 2005
  • Condition of Ion-Trap gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for rapid screening of 206-pesticides residues in agricultural foodstuffs was optimized. As applying a wide-bore column (10 m${\times}$0.53 mm, DF 0.25 um) connected with a fused silica restrictor (0.6 m${\times}$0.1 mm), a significant retention time reduction was obtained. Additionally, the shape of peaks was sharper and higher than classical GC's and GC-MS's, which allowed lower detection limits. To easily manage many spectral data, both of Electron Ionization(EI) and Chemical Ionization(CI) techniques were adopted in screening procedure. At the following steps, MS-MS technique were used to confirm screened analytes in complicated matrices.

A Clinical Analysis of 24 cases of Cardiac Contusion and Cardiac Concussion (둔상에 의한 심타박상과 심좌상의 임상적 고찰)

  • 이계선;정진악;금동윤;안정태;이재원;신제균
    • Journal of Chest Surgery
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    • v.32 no.3
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    • pp.270-275
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    • 1999
  • Background: In the patients with thoracic injury, we suspect simultaneous cardiac contusion or concussion. We analyzed the patients with possible cardiac injury by electrocardiography, serum creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme fraction (CK-MB) screening, followed by two dimentional echocardiogram (2-DE) to access the severity of injury. Material and Method: From January 1997 to April 1998, 15-month retrospective study of suspicious myocardial injury was undertaken in including 24 patients admitted for suspected cardiac injury. All patients with history or signs of blunt chest injury were checked serially and the serial CK, CK-MB fraction, electrocardiography (EKG) analysis screening were followed by 2-DE. Result: The age range was between 20-40 years and were predominant male patients in(M:F=3:1). Most common causes of injury were traffic accidents, 15 patients(62.5%). Associated injuries involved multiple rib fractures, sternal fracture and such. EKG findings on the cardiac concussion were within normal limits, EKG findings on the cardiac contusion were nonspecific ST and T wave abnormality. In cardiac contusion patients, CK-MB fraction did not increase significantly on admission but on 2nd, 3rd, 4th hospital days, it increased significantly (p=0.0080, 0.0130, 0.0130). The average admission days were 9.22 in concussion and 26.18 in contusion patients(p=0.0075). Most common complication was the adult respiratory distress syndrome(7 cases), 5 out of the patients with ARDS were mechanically ventilated. There were no deaths. Conclusion: We believe the serial checks of CK-MB, EKG and subsquent two-dementional echocardiographic sector scanning are presently the most sensitive indicators available for structural and functional cardiac injury.

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Standardization and HPTLC Fingerprinting of a Polyherbal Unani Formulation

  • Beg, Mirza Belal;Viquar, Uzma;Naikodi, Mohammad Abdul Rasheed;Suhail, Habiba;Kazmi, Munawwar Husain
    • CELLMED
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    • v.11 no.1
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    • pp.4.1-4.8
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    • 2021
  • Background: The Unani system of medicine has been practised since centuries for the treatment of a range of diseases. In spite of their efficacy they have been widely criticised due to the lack of standardization and poor quality control. Standardization of Unani medicine is a valuable issue at the present because they are very prone to contamination, deterioration, adulteration and variation in composition due to biodiversity as well as careless collection. Objective: To Standardize and Development of HPTLC Fingerprinting of a polyherbal Unani formulation Qurs-e-Safa. Materials and methods: The conventional and modern analytical techniques were used to standardise Qurs-e-Safa. The study was carried into three different batches of Qurs-e-Safa prepared with its ingredients. The parameters studied are organoleptic, microscopic, physicochemical parameters, phytochemical screening, TLC, HPTLC profile, aflatoxin, microbial load and heavy metal analysis. Results and conclusion: Qurṣ-e-Sa'fa is dark yellow in colour and aromatic smell. Uniformity of diameter and weight variation were found to be 13 ± 0, and 524.7 ± 1.72 mg. friability, hardness and disintegration time of all 3 batches were found to be (0.0615 ± 0.004, 0.0885 ± 0.0047 and 0.0725 ± 0.0058), (3.5 ± 0.2886, 3.67 ± 0.1674 and 3.67 ± 0.1674) and (16 to 17 minutes). Extractive value were found to be maximum in distilled water (38.488 ± 0.20, 37.3824 ± 0.38 and 39.8177 ± 0.13) followed by alcohol (27.5406 ± 0.54, 27.5656 ± 0.32 and 26.9229 ± 0.25). Loss of weight on drying, pH, total ash, acid insoluble ash, qualitative test was set in. Phytochemical screening revealed the presence of Carbohydrates, Phenols, Resins, Proteins, Steroids, fixed oil and Flavonoids. The microbial load was found absent and heavy metals were within permissible limits. The data evolved from the study may serve as a reference to validate and also help in the quality control of other finished products in future research.