• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.74-78
• /
• 2002

Purpose : Proper diagnosis of group A streptococcal pharyngitis that may cause chronic diseases in childhood is not easy because its signs and symptoms would be nonspecific. Because results of classical throat culture delays for one to two days, we'd like to determine whether early antibiotics would be introduced with according to the clinical score system. This study was undertaken to evaluate of clinical usefulness of scoring system based on the clinical and laboratory findings. Methods : From Jan. 1998 to Dec. 2000, 10 clinical items based on modified 9 items by Breese in 1977 were checked in patients with pharyngitis who visited on outpatients clinic of pediatrics, Kyunghee University Hospital. We compared the results of throat culture with the points of clinical score system. Results : Out of 45 cases, the positive culture for Group A Streptococcus was 20 and negative culture was 25. When we applied more than 30 points of score, which correspond to 70 percentile of study population, the sensitivity and specificity were 35.0% and 96.0%, respectively. Conclusion : Although sensitivity was relatively low this scoring system, but the high specificity may be useful diagnostic tool in the areas where the rate of isolation of Group A Streptococcus is low.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.66-73
• /
• 2014

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) play an important role in impairing the function of T cells. We characterized MDSCs in two chronic hepatitis C (CHC) cohorts: a cross-sectional group that included 61 treatment-naive patients with CHC, 14 rapid virologic response (RVR) cases and 22 early virologic response (EVR) cases; and a longitudinal group of 13 cases of RVR and 10 cases of EVR after pegylated-interferon-${\alpha}$/ribavirin treatment for genotype 1b HCV infection. Liver samples from 32 CHC patients and six healthy controls were subjected to immunohistochemical analysis. MDSCs frequency in treatment-naive CHC was significantly higher than in RVR, EVR, or healthy subjects and was positively correlated with HCV RNA. Patients infected with HCV genotype 2a had a significantly higher frequency of MDSCs than those infected with genotype 1b. Decreased T cell receptor (TCR) ${\zeta}$ expression on $CD8^+$ T cells was significantly associated with an increased frequency of MDSCs in treatment-naive CHC patients and was restored by L-arginine treatment in vitro. Increased numbers of liver arginase-$1^+$ cells were closely associated with the histological activity index in CHC. The TCR ${\zeta}$ chain was significantly downregulated on hepatic $CD8^+$ T cells in CHC. During antiviral follow up, MDSCs frequency in peripheral blood mononuclear cells was directly correlated with the HCV RNA load in the plasma and inversely correlated with TCR ${\zeta}$ chain expression in $CD8^+$ T cells in both RVR and EVR cases. Notably, the RVR group had a higher frequency of MDSCs at baseline than the EVR group. Collectively, this study provides evidence that MDSCs might be associated with HCV persistence and downregulation of CD8 ${\zeta}$ chain expression.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.281-291
• /
• 2010

Crytocaryon irritans infection of rock bream was investigated in embankment fish farm from July to December 2009. Prevalence variation was 20.0~88.0% that was high in september and was low in July. While no mortality was found in July and August, it occurred after mid september. Environmental conditions during the survey period were water temperature $19.3{\sim}24.3^{\circ}C$, dissolved oxygen $5.0{\sim}7.1\;mg\;L^{-1}$ and salinity 31.9~33.7 psu, and the water temperature during mortality season was $24.0^{\circ}C$. External symptom of the rock bream was secretion mucus but swimming showed fine in the early infected period. While, the symptoms in the severe outbreak season were excess of mucus, falling off tail and congestion, bleeding spot the surface and weakened swimming. We observed free living and parasitic stages in the gills and body surface of rock bream. Hepato somatic index (HSI) was $1.9{\pm}1.1{\sim}3.5{\pm}1.7%$, which was low in the September being mortality season but was high in November. The percentages of hematocrit infected with Crytocaryon irritans were 37.3% and 41.0% in July and August, respectively while they gradually decreased to 32.1% and 24.2% in september and October, respectively. Total cholesterol and Triglyceride values rapidly decreased by October. After mortality, AST and ALT were 7 and 5 folds higher compared to non-mortality season.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.259-268
• /
• 2019

Dengue virus is a typical mosquito-borne virus, and the half of the world's population is exposed to infection. Dengue virus causes relatively mild symptoms such as dengue fever. However, when not treated properly, it is known to cause severe symptoms such as dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome with a mortality rate of over 20%. Development of dengue virus detection technology is very important because it is reported that early diagnosis of dengue fever can lower the mortality rate to less than 1%. In this study, patent search related to dengue virus detection technology was conducted in Korea, USA, Europe, Japan, and China. The quantitative analysis of 69 validated patents from the searched patents was conducted by country, year, and patent holder. In addition, in-depth analysis was carried out by classifying into three categories: molecular diagnostics, immuno-diagnostics, and cell culture-based diagnostics from all validated patents. From these results, we analyzed the patent trend related to dengue virus detection and dengue fever diagnosis technology and discussed the features and limitations of molecular diagnostics and immuno-diagnostics at present level. Furthermore, we discussed the direction of technology development and future prospects to overcome limitations.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.53-61
• /
• 2019

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a successful surgical treatment for both patients with chronical lameness and dogs who are nonresponsive to medical treatments, providing excellent joint function for returning dogs to the normal gait in 80% to 98% of hip dysplasia (HD) patients. The THA surgical implant system manufactured by BioMedtrix and Kyon are today widely accepted. When comparing the BioMedtrix biological fixation (BFX) system to the BioMedtrix cemented fixation (CFX) system, the many advantages of BFX, which include longer potential implant life, decreased risk of postoperative or later infection, and better implant stability, become evident. However, BFX implies a greater risk of femoral fracture during reaming and requires a more precise surgical technique to achieve good implant fit, given the press-fit nature of cementless THA. The purposes of this study are to both describe the mistakes and complications during stem implantation for beginner surgeons with both the BFX and the CFX systems and to document the initial result of 12 implantations in canine cadavers. Given the detailed evaluations of 3 specialists, who are Diplomate American College of Veterinary Surgeons (DACVS), only 3 of 11 stems were appropriately sized. Specifically, 6 stems were anteverted rather than being retroverted; further, although 7 stems were coaxial with the femoral long axis in the frontal plane, the other stems were in the varus at the frontal plane, with the proximal medial stem adjacent to the medial femoral cortex. Moderate angulation from the cranial to the caudal directions was found in 4 cases in the sagittal plane. Additionally, 1 case of femoral fissure and 1 case of perforated femoral cortex were reported. It is not easy for surgeons performing cementless THA for the first time to achieve a good result, even though they completed an educational course about it and given that catastrophic complications often occurred during early surgical clinical cases. Therefore, ex-vivo studies are sincerely required to get an expertise by rehearsing the preparation of the femoral envelop in isolated bones. Further studies should be conducted to achieve both highly accurate implant size and correct orientation during the preoperative planning. Additionally, surgeons' learning curve should be examined in future investigations.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.39 no.3
• /
• pp.259-265
• /
• 2021

A diagnostic test for viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus (VHSV), which infects more than 80 species of freshwater and marine fish at home and abroad, causing mass mortality, was conducted to provide quantitative data on the amount of virus expression in various tissues of flounder in chronological order. The tissues were collected in chronological order after the intraperitoneal injection of 3.0E+07 tissue culture infective dose₅₀ (TCID₅₀) per 0.1mL per fish of VHSV to randomly selected flounder. As a result of relative quantification through real-time PCR, the highest levels of virus expression were found in the spleen, kidney, gill, and liver on day 5. This study proved that the spleen was an appropriate site for the final diagnosis of VHSV in the early stages of infection and will provide important information for the diagnosis of legal infectious diseases in Korea.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.62-70
• /
• 2021

2020 was a year in which the world spent in disorder due to the pandemic of Coronavirus infection-19(COVID-19). The pandemic was at the beginning of a turning point in history. For examples, the Black Death(Pest) that destroyed the feudal system of medieval Europe in the 14th century, smallpox that led to the destruction of the Inca Empire by Spain in the 17th century, and the Spanish flu that ended World War I early. The great transformation that will come after COVID-19 is presented from various fields and perspectives, but the understanding and direction of the transformation is ambiguous. This study attempts to derive and to analyze core terms based on a network of the future of globalization after COVID-19. Four Networks related to globalization, anti-globalization, and globalization and digitalization after COVID-19 were established respectively. A network integrating four networks was also constructed. The core terms were extracted from the hub nodes, the stress centrality, and the simplified network to which the K-core algorithm was applied. After COVID-19, the changes in globalization were analyzed from the extracted core terms. This study is thought to be meaningful to propose a method of deriving and analyzing core terms based on a network in understanding social changes after COVID-19.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.53 no.1
• /
• pp.49-59
• /
• 2021

This study investigated the use of real-time PCR melting curves for the diagnosis of blaKPC and blaNDM genes among the most frequently detected carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in Korea. As a means of addressing the shortcomings of phenotype tests and conventional PCR. The modified Hodge test confirmed positivity in 25 of 35 strains, and carbapenemase inhibition testing confirmed positivity in 14 strains by meropenem+PBA or meropenem+EDTA. PCR analysis showed amplification products in 25 strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPC), 10 of K. pneumoniae, 5 of E. coli, 5 of A. baumannii, 4 of P. aeruginosa, and 1 of P. putida. New Delhi metallo β-lactamase (NDM) identified amplification products in 8 strains, that is, 2 K. pneumoniae, 3 E. coli, 1 P. aeruginosa, 1 E. cloacae, and 1 P. retgeri strains. Real-time PCR melting curve analysis confirmed amplification in 25 strains of KPC and 8 strains of NDM, and these results were 100% consistent with PCR results. In conclusion, our findings suggest early diagnosis of carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae by real-time PCR offers a potential means of antibacterial management that can prevent and control nosocomial infection spread.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.28-36
• /
• 2022

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines in children aged 5-11 years, a rapid systematic review was conducted on published clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines and studies that analyzed real-world data on adverse events after COVID-19 vaccination. Methods: A systematic search was conducted on medical literature in international (Ovid-MEDLINE) and pre-published literature databases (medRxiv), followed by handsearching up to January 4, 2022. We used terms including COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, and vaccines, and the certainty of evidence was graded using the GRADE approach. Results: A total of 1,675 studies were identified, of which five were finally selected. Among the five studies, four consisted of data from clinical trials of each of the four types of COVID-19 vaccines (BNT162b2, mRNA-1273, CoronaVac, and BBIBP-CorV). The remaining study consisted of real-world data on the safety of the BNT162b2 vaccine in children aged 5-11 years. This systematic review identified that COVID-19 vaccines in recipients aged 5-11 years produced a favorable immune response, and were vaccines were effective against COVID-19. The safety findings for the BNT162b2 vaccine in children and early adolescents aged 5-11 years were similar to those data noted in the clinical trial. Conclusions: There is limited data on COVID-19 vaccines in children aged 5-11 years. Consequently continuous and comprehensive monitoring is necessary for the evaluation of the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.54 no.3
• /
• pp.179-191
• /
• 2022

Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) poses an increasing public health threat and has limited treatment options with high associated mortality. Genotypes of carbapenemase that threaten public health (bla_KPC, bla_NDM, bla_IMP, and bla_VIM) and bla_OXA-48-like genes were detected by phenotypic and molecular diagnosis, and related gene distribution patterns were investigated. Phenotypic testing using the modified Hodge test confirmed positivity in all 41 strains examined, and carbapenemase inhibitory testing using meropenem+phenyl boronic acid or meropenem+EDTA confirmed positivity in 18 and 8 strains, respectively. Polymerase chain reaction revealed the presence of amplification products in 28 strains of bla_KPC, 25 strains of bla_NDM, 5 strains of bla_IMP, 1 strain of bla_VIM, and 13 bla_OXA-48-like strains. In addition, 7 strains of bla_KPC+bla_NDM, 1 strain of bla_KPC+bla_IMP, 1 strain of bla_NDM+bla_OXA-48-like, 1 strain of bla_NDM+bla_VIM, 4 strains of bla_KPC+bla_NDM+bla_IMP, and 4 strains of bla_KPC+bla_NDM+bla_OXA-48-like were identified. Melting curve analysis using real-time PCR was wholly consistent with PCR results. The study shows genetic identification of highly specific CRE by real-time PCR could be used to provide early diagnoses and infection control, improve surveillance, and prevent the transmission of CRE.