• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2022

Procalcitonin (PCT) can provide an experimental rationale and a diagnostic lead to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections. This study sought to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with high PCT levels, to improve clinical diagnosis, and to determine whether PCT levels were associated with the subsequent development of sepsis in the general population. This was a retrospective observational study conducted on outpatients (N=127) over a year. The general data and laboratory parameters studied were PCT, C-reactive protein (CRP), and complete blood count (CBC). The positive rates of CRP and white blood cells (WBCs) in the elevated PCT group were higher than those of the normal group (P<0.05); the specificity and sensitivity of the PCT levels were obviously higher than those of the CRP and WBC levels at diagnosis (P<0.05). The mean PCT levels in the low group were significantly higher than those in the high or moderate group (P<0.001). There was a significant positive correlation with CRP, total WBCs, and neutrophils (P<.001). The main finding of this study was the significant association between an elevated PCT level and CRP and WBC levels, signifying a high diagnostic value. This has important implications for the diagnosis of bacterial infections and therapeutic implications for the use of antibiotic treatment in specific patients.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.426-431
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• 2011

The objective of this study was to investigate the virus removal from artificial groundwater using Mg-Fe layered double hydroxide (LDH). Batch experiments were conducted under various experimental conditions to examine bacteriophage T7 removal with Mg-Fe LDH. Results showed that the removal of T7 by Mg-Fe LDH was a fast process, reaching equilibrium within 2~3 hrs. Mg-Fe LDH had the virus removal capacity of $1.57{\times}10^8pfu/g$ with a removal percent of 96%. Results also showed that the effect of solution pH on T7 removal was minimal between pH 6.2 and 9.1. The influence of anions ($SO_4^{2-}$, $CO_3^{2-}$, $HPO_4^{2-}$) on T7 removal was significant due to their competition with bacteriophage at the sorption sites on LDH, while the effect of $NO_3^-$ was negligible. This study demonstrated that Mg-Fe LDH could be applied as adsorbents for virus removal in water treatment.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.107-115
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• 2003

Chinese yam (Dioscorea opposita cv. Jang-Ma) plants showing necrotic mosaic symptom were collected from their growing fields in Andong, Euisong, Gunwi and Daegu, Korea. Direct negative stainning method by electron microscope showed filamentous particles of about 660 nm in length. Immunosorbent electron microscopy (ISEM) revealed filamentous particles of 660nm decorated with antiserum of Chinese yam necrotic mosaic virus (ChYNMV). The virues purified partially were used to isolate viral RNA as template for RT-PCR to amplify about 1.2 kbp of 3'-terminal region (coat protein, 3'-UTR) with ChYNMV specific and oligo-dT primers. Amino acids sequences of amplified CP genes revealed that the viruses shared 97.9% similarity with ChYNMV (AB044386) wh ich was known as the member of Macluravirus. So the viruses from Chinese yam (D. opposita cv. Jang-Ma) plants were identified as ChYNMV. Comparing the CP amion acid sequences of ChYNMV strains with other macluraviruses such as Cardamon mosaic virus (CdMV), Narcissus latent virus (NLV) and Maclura mosaic virus (MacMV) revealed that N-terminal was the most varialbe region and conserved regions were present within the genus Macluravirus.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.136-140
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• 1985

The studies were conducted to test for combining ability and to evaluate resistance to maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV) by diallel crosses of corn inbreds. For the genetic analysis of the resistance, a diallel set of crosses without reciprocals was made using the eight corn inbreds which had different degrees of resistance to MDMV. Twenty eight $F_1$ hybrids showed different symtom severity. the highest value is 3.63 and the lowest value is 1.87 in disease ratings (1-4). General combining ability (GCA) for resistance to MDMV was highly significant, but specific combining ability (SCA) was not significant. Two inbreds, A632 and KS15 showed negative GCA effects, indicating that these parents were good general combiners and that resistance to MDMV increased in hybrid combinations. Hyrid A632 x KS5, showed the highest negative SCA effect and several combinations showed negative SCA effects. The analysis of parent-offspring covariance (Wr) and array variance (Vr), suggest that there may be many dominant genes in the resistant inbreds and many recessive genes in the susceptible inbreds.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1207-1211
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• 2008

The pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-$\alpha$ (TNF-$\alpha$) is an important mediator of the immune response in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Since the production of TNF-$\alpha$ is mostly regulated at the transcriptional level and polymorphisms in the TNF-$\alpha$ promoter alter its expression, TNF-$\alpha$ promoter polymorphisms could affect the pathogenesis of chronic HBV infection. In this study, we investigated the potential association of TNF-$\alpha$ promoter polymorphisms with chronic HBV infection. The study included 181 patients with chronic HBV infection, 201 persons who had been spontaneously recovered from hepatitis B, and 170 unrelated healthy controls. The -308G/A and -238G/A polymorphisms in the TNF-$\alpha$ promoter were analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism. The distribution of both the -308 and -238 genotypes in the patient group was not statistically different from that in the spontaneous recovery and control groups (p>0.05). There was also no significant difference in the allele frequency between the groups (p>0.05). The results suggest that the TNF-$\alpha$ -308 and -238 promoter polymorphisms are not associated with the development of chronic HBV infection in the Korean population.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.130-136
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• 2010

Purpose : The purpose of this study is to identify the viral etiology of acute respiratory illnesses and to determine epidemiology in outpatients in Busan, Korea. Methods : We collected nasal wash samples from 990 patients who visited the hospital for acute respiratory illnesses between January 2007 and December 2008. Extracted DNA or RNA from specimens was used for viral detection by an RT-PCR method. Results : Of a total of 990 samples, viruses were detected in 351 cases (35.5%). The ratio of male to female was 1.6:1 and 93.7% were less than 5 years old. Rhinovirus was detected year-round in 202 cases (57.5%), respiratory syncytial virus from October to March in 57 cases (16.2%), adenovirus year-round in 37 cases (10.5%), influenza virus from December to April in 21 cases (6%), bocavirus from January to August in 15 cases (4.3%), parainfluenza virus from April to July in 9 cases (2.6%), coronavirus from January to July in 7 cases (2%), and enterovirus from June to September in 3 cases (0.9%). Conclusion : We identified the etiology and epidemiology of viruses that caused the acute respiratory diseases that were prevalent in Busan, 2007-2008. Further surveillance will be necessary.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.483-490
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• 2004

We have developed a novel polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-microchip gel electrophoresis (MGE) method based on the sieving gel mixture of commercially available poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) and hydroxy ethyl cellulose (HEC) for the rapid detection and diagnosis of the orf virus (ORFV) from Korean indigenous goat. After amplification of 594-bp DNA fragment from the B2L gene of ORF virus, the amplicon was analyzed by the MGE separation. The glass microfluidic chip (64 mm total length (36 mm effective length)${\times}$90 ${\mu}$m width${\times}$20 ${\mu}$m depth) allowed the fast detection and diagnosis of ORFV in the mixture of 1.0% PVP ($M_r$ 360,000) and 1.0% HEC ($M_r$250,000) as a sieving matrix with better resolution and reproducibility of DNA fragments. Under the electric field of 277.8 V/cm, the 594-bp DNA was analyzed within 4 min. Compared to traditional slab gel electrophoresis, the PCR-MGE method was twenty times faster and an effective clinical method for the quantitative analysis of ORFV.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 1998

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has the ability to activate the expression of many viral and cellular genes. Among various viral proteins, the immediate early proteins (IE1-72kDa, IE2-86kDa) have been known to be potent transactivators. The product of c-jun proto-oncogene is important in cell activation and differentiation. Here, we tried to find out if the IE could activate the c-jun promoter and also tried to identify the responsible sequence elements in the c-jun activation by IE1-72kDa. We found HCMV IE expression transactivated the c-jun promoter in human embryonal lung fibroblasts (HEL). The activation fold by IE1-72kDa, IE2-86kDa and IE2-55kDa was 23, 35, and 5, respectively. When the expression of each IE was combined, it showed synergism. Expression of (IE1-72kDa + IE2-86kDa) and (IE1-72kDa + IE2-86kDa + IE2-55kDa) resulted in 131 and 162 fold increase, respectively. The c-jun promoter region between -117 and -59 contains binding sites for the transcription factors Spl, CAAT, AP-l like (ATF/CREB), and MEF2. Transient expression assays were performed using various reporter plasmids containing the c-jun promoter-regulatory region linked to the luciferase gene and a plasmid expressing HCMV IE1 gene. Deletional and point mutational analysis showed that the sequence between -225 to -160 and the CTF binding site were involved in the up-regulation of c-jun promoter.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2011

We conducted a 10-month (March to October 2009) surveillance of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in 13 slaughterhouses in Korea. NDV was isolated in 13.0%, 13.3%, 16.0%, and 10.8% of chicken farms, transport vehicles, hang rooms, and chilling water, respectively. Of NDV isolates from slaughterhouses, 37% were isolated in July. All NDV isolates were determined to be lentogenic viruses by RT-PCR-based pathotyping, and all NDV isolates had the $^{112}GKQGR/L^{117}$ motif at the cleavage site of the F protein. Phylogenetic analysis based on the hypervariable region of the F protein gene classified all 25 NDV isolates examined into genotype I within class II. Of these, 24 were clustered together with the NDV V4 strain, while the remaining isolate was placed in the cluster belonging to the NDV Ulster 2C strain. Our results indicate that lentogenic NDV was a high-frequency contaminant in the serial process of ranging live birds to slaughtering at slaughterhouses.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.906-912
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• 2016

${\beta}$-Glucan is a natural compound contained in cell walls of yeast or fungi, and cereal's fiber. It is also known to boost the immune system in human. Aureobasidium is a producer of water-soluble ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan. In this study, natural killer (NK) cell and macrophage activity were tested to investigate the effects of ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan isolated from A. pullulans on immune activity. Activation of NK cell was increased about 63-39% by the treatment of $10-200{\mu}g/mL$ ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan than control. Besides, only $10{\mu}g/mL$ of ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan was enough to boost activation of NK cell. Phagocytosis of macrophage was increased to 15~21% by the treatment of $10{\sim}200{\mu}g/mL$ of ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan than zymosan-treatment. In LP-BM5 proliferating inhibition test, relative mRNA level of LP-BM5 virus was decreased in ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan-treated cell about 36~74% than control. The decline of LP-BM5 mRNA level appeared to depend on the concentration of ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan. These results suggest that pure ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan from A. pullulans might be contributing to enhancement of immune activity through the activation of NK cell and phagocytosis of macrophage. Moreover, treatment of the ${\beta}$-1,3/1,6-glucan could increase the resistance to virus infection such as LP-BM5 through the restraining of the multiplication.