• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.470-476
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• 2018

Facial motor evoked potential (FMEP) by multi-pulse transcranial electrical stimulation (mpTES) can complement free-running electromyography (EMG) and direct facial nerve stimulation to predict the functional integrity of the facial nerve during cerebello-pontine angle (CPA) tumor surgery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the standardized test methods and the usefulness of FMEP as a predictor of facial nerve function and to minimize the incidence of facial paralysis as an aftereffect of surgery. TES was delivered through electrode Mz (cathode) - M3/M4 (anode), and extracranially direct distal facial muscle excitation was excluded by the absence of single pulse response (SPR) and by longer onset latency (more than 10 ms). FMEP from the orbicularis oris (o.oris) and the mentalis muscle simultaneously can improve the accuracy and success rate compared with FMEP from the o.oris alone. Using the methods described, we can effectively predict facial nerve outcomes immediately after surgery with a reduction of more than 50% of FMEP amplitude as a warning criterion. In conclusion, along with free-running EMG and direct facial nerve stimulation, FMEP is a useful method to reduce the incidence of facial paralysis as a sequela during CPA tumor surgery.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.1778-1783
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• 2011

Hematopoietic cytokines regulate production of blood cells by stimulating proliferation and differentiation of bone marrow cells. Among these hematopoietic cytokines, called hematopoitic growth factors, glranulocyte-colony stimulating Factor (G-CSF), which regulates growth of neutrophils, is one of important therapeutic factors because cancer patients suffer with neutropenia which is severe reduction of neutrophils after chemotherapy. Two groups of recombinant G-CSF have approved and used for therapeutic purposes and many researches are still on-going to produce recombinant G-CSF by different techniques. We engineered human G-CSF with Bombyx specific endoplasmic reticulum (ER) signal sequence, therefore, secretion of human G-CSF protein was improved in Bombyx mori-origined cell line, Bm5. The Bombyx ER signal sequence and human G-CSF matured protein region chimera was further remodeled at the N-terminus of matured G-CSF protein to understand roles of N-terminus on outer cellular secretion and/or production. Three different mutants were generated deleting three amino acids in non alpha-helical region in N-terminus in order to scan important amino acids for G-CSF secretion. One of 3 different N-terminal deletion mutants showed dramatically reduction of secreted amount of G-CSF indicating its important role on secretion. The data suggest that remodeling in non alpha-helical region of N-terminus is also important for recombinant G-CSF production.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.457-469
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• 1991

Clinical and bacteriological observations on infectious atrophic rhinitis of swine were conducted in order to obtain some basic information for the clinical and immnnological control of the disease prevailing in the republic. Samples were collected from nasal cavities of 135 4~12 week old pigs from 12 herds and from turbinates of 199 slaughtering pigs from 14 swine herds to investigate the prevalence of Bordetella bronchiseptica and/or Pasteurella multocida in the nasal cavities of the pigs. On the examination of nasal swabs by cultural techniques and of gross lesion of snouts of slaughtering pigs, all the swine herds investigated were found to be affected by atrophic rhinitis and a total of 84 B bronchiseptica and 139 P multocida cultures were isolated from the nasal cavities of the pigs. Of the 199 slaughtering pigs, some 48% revealed gross pathological lesion typical of atrophic rhinitis and the prevalence of B bronchiseptica and P multocida were 27.6% and 46.7%, respectively. Biochemical properties, antimicrobial susceptibilities, serological characteristics and toxigenicity of the isolates of B bronchiseptica and P multocida were investigated.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.53-57
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• 2023

The main objective of pathologists is to achieve accurate lesion diagnoses, which has become increasingly challenging due to the growing number of pathological slides that need to be examined. However, using digital technology has made it easier to complete this task compared to older methods. Digital pathology is a specialized field that manages data from digitized specimen slides, utilizing image processing technology to automate and improve analysis. It aims to enhance the precision, reproducibility, and standardization of pathology-based researches, preclinical, and clinical trials through the sophisticated techniques it employs. The advent of whole slide imaging (WSI) technology is revolutionizing the pathology field by replacing glass slides as the primary method of pathology evaluation. Image processing technology that utilizes WSI is being implemented to automate and enhance analysis. Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms are being developed to assist pathologic diagnosis and detection and segmentation of specific objects. Application of AI-based digital pathology in biomedical researches is classified into four areas: diagnosis and rapid peer review, quantification, prognosis prediction, and education. AI-based digital pathology can result in a higher accuracy rate for lesion diagnosis than using either a pathologist or AI alone. Combining AI with pathologists can enhance and standardize pathology-based investigations, reducing the time and cost required for pathologists to screen tissue slides for abnormalities. And AI-based digital pathology can identify and quantify structures in tissues. Lastly, it can help predict and monitor disease progression and response to therapy, contributing to personalized medicine.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2016

Laboratory workers, in resource-poor countries, still consider PCR detection of Giardia lamblia more costly and more time-consuming than the classical parasitological techniques. Based on 2 published primers, an in-house one-round touchdown PCR-RFLP assay was developed. The assay was validated with an internal amplification control included in reactions. Performance of the assay was assessed with DNA samples of various purities, 91 control fecal samples with various parasite load, and 472 samples of unknown results. Two cysts per reaction were enough for PCR detection by the assay with exhibited specificity (Sp) and sensitivity (Se) of 100% and 93%, respectively. Taking a published small subunit rRNA reference PCR test results (6%; 29/472) as a nominated gold standard, G. lamblia was identified in 5.9% (28/472), 5.2%, (25/472), and 3.6% (17/472) by PCR assay, $RIDA^{(R)}$ Quick Giardia antigen detection test (R-Biopharm, Darmstadt, Germany), and iodine-stained smear microscopy, respectively. The percent agreements (kappa values) of 99.7% (0.745), 98.9% (0.900), and 97.7% (0.981) were exhibited between the assay results and that of the reference PCR, immunoassay, and microscopy, respectively. Restriction digestion of the 28 Giardia-positive samples revealed genotype A pattern in 12 and genotype B profile in 16 samples. The PCR assay with the described format and exhibited performance has a great potential to be adopted in basic clinical laboratories as a detection tool for G. lamblia especially in asymptomatic infections. This potential is increased more in particular situations where identification of the parasite genotype represents a major requirement as in epidemiological studies and infection outbreaks.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.239-248
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• 2022

The taxonomy of bacteria in the field of clinical microbiology is in a state of constant flux. A large-scale revamping of the classification and nomenclature of anaerobic bacteria has taken place over the past few decades, mainly due to advances in molecular techniques such as 16S rRNA and whole genome sequencing (WGS). New genera and species have been added, and existing genera and species have been reclassified or renamed. A major role of the clinical microbiological laboratories (CMLs) is the accurate identification (ID) and appropriate antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) for clinically important bacteria, and rapid reporting and communication of the same to the clinician. Taxonomic changes in anaerobic bacteria could potentially affect the choice of appropriate antimicrobial agents and the antimicrobial breakpoints to use. Furthermore, current taxonomy is important to prevent treatment failures of emerging pathogenic anaerobes with antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, CMLs should periodically update themselves on the changes in the taxonomy of anaerobic bacteria and suitably inform clinicians of these changes for optimum patient care. This article presents an update on the taxonomy of clinically important anaerobic bacteria, together with the previous names or synonyms. This taxonomy update can help guide antimicrobial therapy for anaerobic bacterial infections and prevent treatment failure and can be a useful tool for both CMLs and clinicians.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.633-641
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• 2015

Waterborne infectious disease is induced by several pathogenic microbes such as bacteria, viruses and protozoans, and the cases caused by viral infection is currently increasing. Water treatment process could reduce the number of virus in the water, but there were many difficulties to completely remove the virus particles from water. Therefore, the membrane separation technology which was reported to effectively remove pollutants from raw water has attracted increasing attention and demand. Since its efficiency has been introduced, demands for evaluation method toward the membrane filtration process are increasing. However, progression of the method development is slow due to the difficulties in cultivation of several waterborne viruses from animal models or cell culture system. To overcome the difficulties, we used adenovirus, one of the commonly isolated pathogenic waterborne viruses which can grow in cell culture system in vitro. The adenovirus used in this study was identified as human adenovirus C strain. The adenovirus was spiked in the raw water and passed through the microfiltration membrane produced by Econity, a Korean membrane company, and then the viral removal rate was evaluated by real-time PCR. In the results, the amount of virus in the filtered water was decreased approximately by 5 log scale. Because coagulant treatment has been known to reduce filtering function of the membrane by inducing fouling, we also investigated whether there was any interference of coagulant. In the results, we confirmed that coagulant treatment did not show significant interference on microfiltration membrane. In this study, we found that waterborne virus can be effectively removed by membrane filtration system. In particular, here we also suggest that real-time PCR method can rapidly, sensitively and quantitatively evaluate the removal rate of virus. These results may provide a standard method to qualifying membrane filtration processes.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.147-154
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• 2015

Various constituents in clinical specimens, particularly feces, can inhibit the PCR assay and lead to false-negative results. To ensure that negative results of a diagnostic PCR assay are true, it should be properly monitored by an inhibition control. In this study, a cloning vector harboring a modified target DNA sequence (${\approx}375bp$) was constructed to be used as a competitive internal amplification control (IAC) for a conventional PCR assay that detects ${\approx}550bp$ of the Cryptosporidium oocyst wall protein (COWP) gene sequence in human feces. Modification of the native PCR target was carried out using a new approach comprising inverse PCR and restriction digestion techniques. IAC was included in the assay, with the estimated optimum concentration of 1 fg per reaction, as duplex PCR. When applied on fecal samples spiked with variable oocysts counts, ${\approx}2$ oocysts were theoretically enough for detection. When applied on 25 Cryptosporidium-positive fecal samples of various infection intensities, both targets were clearly detected with minimal competition noticed in 2-3 samples. Importantly, both the analytical and the diagnostic sensitivities of the PCR assay were not altered with integration of IAC into the reactions. When tried on 180 randomly collected fecal samples, 159 were Cryptosporidium-negatives. Although the native target DNA was absent, the IAC amplicon was obviously detected on gel of all the Cryptosporidium-negative samples. These results imply that running of the diagnostic PCR, inspired with the previously developed DNA extraction protocol and the constructed IAC, represents a useful tool for Cryptosporidium detection in human feces.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.1-11
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• 2011

Objectives : As the number of patient with dementia increases, interest in mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which is a pre-dementia stage, has been expanding. In this study, we investigated the effects from selected clinical research articles to evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions. Methods : We searched MCI related articles on MEDLINE and the Web of Science using keywords related to MCI. We selected 26 articles, and 13 evaluated efficiency using the Jadad score. Results : Physical exercise and cognitive remediation techniques were effective for improving MCI. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, taichi, and music belonged to "perhaps" effectiveness group. Many of the 13 articles that evaluated MCI using the Jadad score evaluated them as "good" or "poor", and only three articles evaluated MCI as "excellent". Conclusions : The present evidence suggests that cognitive remediation techniques to improve memory and physical exercise were effective for people with MCI. However, further studies are needed to identify the physical exercise effects.

• Neonatal Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.301-309
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• 2011

Purpose: Point-of-care tests (POCTs) have the potential to significantly influence management of neonates. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical usefulness of the POCT chemistry analyzer in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Methods: Blood samples of neonates admitted to the NICU were tested using a POCT chemistry analyzer (Piccolo Xpress Chemistry Analyzer, Abaxis, Union City, CA, USA) and a central laboratory chemical analyzer (Chemistry analyzer 7600-110, Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) from March to September, 2010. Correlation of 15 analytes between the POCT and the central laboratory machine was evaluated. For consistency of the POCT, three consecutive samplings were performed. Differences among the three tests were recorded. The causes of performance errors were checked through log files. Results: One hundred of 112 pairs of tests for accuracy performed in 54 neonates showed a high correlation between the two machines. Twelve performance errors occurred during the 112 tests. The most common error was insufficient sample error. Eighteen triplet tests performed in 18 patients for consistency revealed a difference range of 3-10%, which was considered to be acceptable. No error occurred during the 54 tests. Conclusion: The POCT is capable of analyzing multiple analytes with a minimal amount of whole blood in a short time. The few performance errors noted presently are likely preventable. This POCT is concluded to be suitable for use as a simple and rapid diagnostic method in the NICU with a minimal amount of blood collected in a less invasive manner.