• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.158-166
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• 2009

On the basis of morphological characteristics, of total 128 strains of from sputum of tuberculos inpatient were identified as A. fumigatus (61 strains), A. niger (37), A. flavus (26), A. versicolor (1), A. nidulans (1), A. clavatus (1) and Neosartorya fennelliae (1). These strains were re-identified according to recent Aspergillus classification system which is mainly based on molecular characteristics. The strains were grouped by randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) techniques. The representative strains from each group were sequenced with partial ${\beta}$-tubulin gene and compared with those of reference strains in the Aspergillus and were identified by the sequence. The identification was confirmed by morphology examination. As the results, they are reidentified as A. fumigatus (58), A. niger (11), A. tubingensis (26), A. flavus (27), A. sydowii (3), A. nidulans (1), A. clavatus (1) and Neosatorya fennelliae (1). This is the first report of A. tubuingensis in clinical field in Korea.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.80 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2017

Background: A sputum culture is the most reliable indicator of the infectiousness of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB); however, a spontaneous sputum specimen may not be suitable. The aim of this study was to evaluate the infectious period in patients with non-drug-resistant (DR) PTB receiving adequate standard chemotherapy, using induced sputum (IS) specimens. Methods: We evaluated the duration of infectiousness of PTB using a retrospective cohort design. Results: Among the 35 patients with PTB, 22 were smear-positive. The rates of IS culture positivity from baseline to the sixth week of anti-tuberculosis medication in the smear-positive PTB group were 100%, 100%, 91%, 73%, 36%, and 18%, respectively. For smear-positive PTB cases, the median time of conversion to culture negativity was 35.0 days (range, 28.0-42.0 days). In the smear-negative PTB group (n=13), the weekly rates of positive IS culture were 100%, 77%, 39%, 8%, 0%, and 0%, respectively, and the median time to conversion to culture-negative was 21.0 days (range, 17.5-28.0 days). Conclusion: The infectiousness of PTB, under adequate therapy, may persist longer than previously reported, even in patients with non-DR PTB.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.331-336
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• 2018

In this study, multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) analysis of 40 clinically isolated Candida albicans in tertiary hospitals in Daejeon, Korea, confirmed the nucleotide sequence and phylogenetic relationships of the strains collected from different specimen sources. The general variations found in seven different housekeeping genes of C. albicans, collected from urine and sputum, peripheral blood, central line blood, and other specimens, were analyzed. The phylogenetic tree was divided into 18 sub-clusters (1), a central line blood (2), others (5), sputum (1), peripheral blood (6), sputum (1), and urine (1), and the isolates at the same site were confirmed to have genetic similarity. Consequently, genetic similarity and the potential relevance were found in the strains collected from the same specimen sources. MLST analysis of C. albicans suggests that persistent data accumulation of phylogenetic gene variations of C. albicans may help establish infectious disease studies and epidemiological surveillance systems.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.63 no.5
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• pp.417-422
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• 2007

Background: It is not known with certainty whether patients with persistently positive sputum smear results who have also had negative sputum culture results require prolongation of treatment for tuberculosis in order to avoid an increased risk of eventual relapse. The purpose of the present study was to retrospectively describe the treatment characteristics and evaluate the appropriate duration of treatment in these patients. Methods: Sixty of 69 patients with sputum smear positive and culture negative tests at 5 months after first line anti-tuberculous chemotherapy from 2002 to 2003 were retrospectively analyzed. Exclusion criteria included incomplete treatment or resistance to rifampicin or two additional antibiotics, as determined by a drug susceptibility test (DST). Results: Smear conversion of the study subjects was observed after $8.3{\pm}2.3$ months treatment, and the patients were culture negative after $2.0{\pm}0.8$ months. The relapse rates of the study subjects were 3.8, 10.0, and 25.8% after 1, 2, and 5 years of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy, respectively. The relapse rates were not significantly affected by a series of risk factors such as age, sex, presence of diabetes, a sputum culture examination after 2 months treatment, previous treatment history, chest radiograph, and duration of the treatment (P>0.05). Conclusion: Regimen change is not required for patients with persistent smear positive but culture negative tests in the fifth month for first line antituberculous treatment. However, a further study will be needed to clarify the high relapse rate in this specific group of patients.

• Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Research
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.628-647
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• 2018

Purpose: Obesity is associated with metabolic dysregulation, but the underlying metabolic signatures involving clinical and inflammatory profiles of obese asthma are largely unexplored. We aimed at identifying the metabolic signatures of obese asthma. Methods: Eligible subjects with obese (n = 11) and lean (n = 22) asthma underwent body composition and clinical assessment, sputum induction, and blood sampling. Sputum supernatant was assessed for interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}$, -4, -5, -6, -13, and tumor necrosis factor $(TNF)-{\alpha}$, and serum was detected for leptin, adiponectin and C-reactive protein. Untargeted gas chromatography time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC-TOF-MS)-based metabolic profiles in sputum, serum and peripheral blood monocular cells (PBMCs) were analyzed by orthogonal projections to latent structures-discriminate analysis (OPLS-DA) and pathway topology enrichment analysis. The differential metabolites were further validated by correlation analysis with body composition, and clinical and inflammatory profiles. Results: Body composition, asthma control, and the levels of $IL-1{\beta}$, -4, -13, leptin and adiponectin in obese asthmatics were significantly different from those in lean asthmatics. OPLS-DA analysis revealed 28 differential metabolites that distinguished obese from lean asthmatic subjects. The validation analysis identified 18 potential metabolic signatures (11 in sputum, 4 in serum and 2 in PBMCs) of obese asthmatics. Pathway topology enrichment analysis revealed that cyanoamino acid metabolism, caffeine metabolism, alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis, pentose phosphate pathway in sputum, and glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism and pentose phosphate pathway in serum are suggested to be significant pathways related to obese asthma. Conclusions: GC-TOF-MS-based metabolomics indicates obese asthma is characterized by a metabolic profile different from lean asthma. The potential metabolic signatures indicated novel immune-metabolic mechanisms in obese asthma with providing more phenotypic and therapeutic implications, which needs further replication and validation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.265-274
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• 2002

Background : Tumor associated antigens, which are produced specifically by tumor cells, are promising targets for the early diagnosis and immunotherapy. Among the tumor associated antigens, MAGE (a melanoma antigen), BAGE, GAGE, PRAME and NY-ESO were named as cancer/testis specific antigens they are detected exclusively in the testis or cancer cells If MAGE is easily detectable in the sputum, it would become a convenient method for diagnosing lung cancer. This study was undertaken to investigate MAGE expression in the induced sputum obtained from lung cancer patients. Materials and Methods : In 14 control patients and 30 lung cancer patients, the induced sputum was collected after inhaling 3% saline(5 cc) delivered by nebulizer for approximately 5 minutes after a mouth rinse and bronchodilator inhalation. The induced sputum was placed in a conservative-mixed solution (guanidinium isothiocyanate, Triton X-100). The total cellular mRNA was extracted from the cells and RT PCR and nested PCR were run in 30 and 35 cycles respectively, with two different types of primers specially designed to detect six subtypes of MAGE DNA simultaneously. Results : MAGE expression was not detected in the 14 controls, but in the 30 cancer patients, MAGE was found in 24 patients (80%, p=0.001). In the cancer patients, there were no differences in the expression level according to the tissue types (squamous cell cancer 13/17, adenocarcinoma 7/9, and small cell cancer 4/4, p-0.56). Among the 24 MAGE-positive patients, the tumor was not visible on a bronchoscopy in 11 patients (45.8%). Conclusion : A study of MAGE in induced sputum appears to be a useful and complementary method in the diagnosis of lung cancer. A further prospective study with more patients is recommended.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.348-355
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• 2004

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.918-925
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• 1991

The technique of sleeve lobectomy has emerged as a relatively recent mode of excisional therapy. Acceptance of the technique has been slow because initially it has believed to be more difficult technically, to be associated with more complications, and be an inadequate operation for cancer. Sleeve lobectomy for bronchogenic carcinoma is an alternative to pneumonectomy. Four patients with bronchogenic carcinoma were treated by lobectomy with sleeve resection of the bronchus from 1986 to 1990. Three patients were male and one patient was female. Ages ranged from 43 years to 68 years. Symptoms were cough, sputum, blood tinged sputum, and dyspnea. Histopathologically, 3 cases were squamous cell carcinoma, 1 case was adenocarcinoma. Preoperative stage was stage I in 3 cases and stage II in 1 case. All of them were alive after operation.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.72 no.2
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• pp.173-176
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• 2012

We report a rare case of lung disease caused by Mycobacterium terrae in a previously healthy woman. A 45-year-old woman was referred to our hospital due to a chronic cough with sputum. A computed tomography scan of the chest revealed bronchiolitis in conjuction with bronchiectasis in both lungs. Nontuberculous mycobacteria were identified and isolated from the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid collected from each lung. All isolates were identified as M. terrae by various molecular methods that characterized the rpoB and hsp65 gene sequences. Antibiotic therapy using clarithromycin, rifampin, and ethambutol improved the patient's condition and successfully resulted in sputum conversion.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.139-143
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• 1982

A study was carried out in 81 retreatment patients with sputum positive pulmonary tuberculosis who had previously been treated with first-line drugs for more than one year at Health Center. The Following results were obtained; 1. Of the total 81 case of retreatment patients, male patients occupied 63(77.8%) and 18(22.2%) were female. Age group of $30{\sim}49$ years was 54.3% of total cases. 2. By extent of disease, moderate advanced cases were 53.1% and far advanced cases were 35.8%. 3. Of 81 patients admitted to the study. 65(80.3%) completed 1 year treatment 16(19.7%) patients discharged prematurely before 1 year. 4 patients terminated their treatment during $9{\sim}11$ months after registration. 4. Completment rate of chemotherapy was highest (90%) at age of under 30 years. 5. Intractable patients with persistant positive sputum test for A.F.B. even after 12 months of retreatment were occupied 9(13.8%) of total retreatment cases.