• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권8호
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• pp.3167-3172
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• 2015

Background: Understanding the history of human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is important for interpretation of a positive HPV DNA screening test, future work-up and treatment. We investigated the transition of HPV DNA test results in Korean women, and analyzed the association of cytology result with transition type. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed annual HPV DNA test results for 5,274 subjects between January 2005 and December 2012. Each subject had a minimum of five annual tests over the eight-year period. Based on the pattern of results, the transition type for each subject was assigned to one of the following: negative, persistent, latent, transient, and unclassifiable. Associations of cytology results with the HPV DNA transition types, number of positive results, and the durations of positive results were also analyzed. Results: The proportion of abnormal cytology findings decreased in the following order of transition patterns: persistent, latent, transient, and negative. Among transient patterns, a duration of three years or more significantly correlated with cytology results of non-high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL; p<0.001). In the persistent group, duration of five years or more correlated with both non-HSIL and HSIL (p<0.001). Latent group showed no correlation with duration. Irrespective of patterns, having five or more positive results was significantly associated with HSIL (p<0.001). Conclusions: Our findings may contribute to better understanding of HPV infection, interpretation of HPV DNA screening results, and prediction of prognosis according to transition type.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제81권1호
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• pp.6-12
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• 2018

The role of the treatment for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) has been underscored in the intermediate tuberculosis (TB) burden countries like South Korea. LTBI treatment is recommended only for patients at risk for progression to active TB-those with frequent exposure to active TB cases, and those with clinical risk factors (e.g., immunocompromised patients). Recently revised National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline recommended that close contacts of individuals with active pulmonary or laryngeal TB, aged between 18 and 65 years, should undergo LTBI treatment. Various regimens for LTBI treatment were recommended in NICE, World Health Organization (WHO), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and superiority of one recommended regimen over another was not yet established. Traditional 6 to 9 months of isoniazid (6H or 9H) regimen has an advantage of the most abundant evidence for clinical efficacy-60%-90% of estimated protective effect. However, 6H or 9H regimen is related with hepatotoxicity and low compliance. Four months of rifampin regimen is characterized by less hepatotoxicity and better compliance than 9H, but has few evidence of clinical efficacy. Three months of isoniazid plus rifampin was proved equivalence with 6H or 9H regimen in terms of efficacy and safety, which was recommended in NICE and WHO guidelines. The clinical efficacy of isoniazid plus rifapentine once-weekly regimen for 3 months was demonstrated recently, which is not yet introduced into South Korea.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• 제36권6호
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• pp.618-627
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• 2020

Although limited progress have been made about pathogen system of Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and Hibiscus latent Fort Pierce virus (HLFPV), interaction between plant host and pathogen remain largely unknown, which led to deficiency of effective measures to control disease of hibiscus plants caused by HLFPV. In this study, infection of HLFPV in Hibiscus rosa-sinensis was firstly confirmed for the first time by traditional electron microscopy, modern reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and RNA-seq methods in China (HLFPV-Ch). Sequence properties analyzing suggested that the full-length sequences (6,465 nt) of HLFPV-Ch had a high sequence identity and a similar genomic structure with other tobamoviruses. It includes a 5'-terminal untranslated region (UTR), followed by four open reading frames encoding for a 128.5-kDa replicase, a 186.5-kDa polymerase, a 31-kDa movement protein, 17.6-kDa coat protein, and the last a 3'-terminal UTR. Furthermore, HLFPV-Ch-derived virus-derived siRNAs (vsiRNAs) ant its putative target genes, reported also for the first time, were identified and characterized from disease Hibiscus rosa-sinensis through sRNA-seq and Patmatch server to investigate the interaction in this pathogen systems. HLFPV-Ch-derived vsiRNAs demonstrated several general and specific characteristics. Gene Ontology classification revealed predicted target genes by vsiRNAs are involved in abroad range of cellular component, molecular function and biological processes. Taken together, for first time, our results certified the HLFPV infection in China and provide an insight into interaction between HLFPV and Hibiscus rosa-sinensis.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• 제15권4호
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• pp.186-190
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• 2015

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in healthy individuals is usually asymptomatic and results in latent infection. CMV reactivation occasionally occurs in healthy individuals according to their immune status over time. T cell responses to CMV are restricted to a limited number of immunodominant epitopes, as compared to responses to other chronic or persistent viruses. This response results in progressive, prolonged expansion of CMV-specific $CD8^+$ T cells, termed 'memory inflation'. The expanded CMV-specific $CD8^+$ T cell population is extraordinarily large and is more prominent in the elderly. CMV-specific $CD8^+$ T cells possess rather similar phenotypic and functional features to those of replicative senescent T cells. In this review, we discuss the general features of CMV-specific inflationary memory T cells and the factors involved in memory inflation.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• 제33권1호
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• pp.1-7
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• 2016

The two distinctive clinical features of varicella-zoster virus (VZV) are varicella (chickenpox) by primary infection and zoster (singles) by the reactivation of latent infection. In addition to the two typical clinical symptoms mentioned above, diverse clinical manifestations have been reported as a result of VZV reactivation, including chronic radicular pain without rash, visual loss, facial palsy, dysphagia, sore throat, odynophagia, otalgia, hearing loss, dizziness, headache, hemiplegia, etc. Most of these symptoms are derived from neuropathy and vasculopathy of affected nerves and arteries. Diagnosis of VZV disease can be difficult if there is no appearance of a skin rash during development of atypical symptoms. In addition to natural infection, vaccination and anti-viral agent treatment have influenced the changes of epidemics and clinical presentations of varicella and zoster. In this article, diverse clinical manifestations caused by VZV reactivation, particular without skin rash, are reviewed.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제52권5호
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• pp.513-518
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• 2009

In childhood tuberculosis, it is possible to clearly distinguish among three basic stages: exposure, infection, and disease. The incidence of tuberculosis in children is low compared with that in adults, but latent infection is a major concern because children, who are exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis especially early in childhood, are at increased risk of developing the disease. Younger children particularly infants have a high relative risk of miliary or meningeal disease. The clinical manifestations of childhood tuberculosis differ noticeably from those of the disease seen in adults. Adolescents with tuberculosis have different demographic and clinical features from those of adults or children. Tuberculosis in adolescents has become relatively more important as the incidence of infection in childhood has decreased.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제36권1호
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• pp.4-10
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• 2023

Herpes zoster (HZ) is a common disease in the aging population and immunocompromised individuals, with a lifetime risk of 20%-30% that increases with age. HZ is caused by reactivation of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV), which remains latent in the spinal dorsal root ganglia and cranial sensory ganglia after resolution of the primary VZV infection. The main focus of HZ management is rapid recovery from VZV infection as well as the reduction and prevention of zoster-associated pain (ZAP) and postherpetic neuralgia (PHN). The use of antivirals against VZV is essential in the treatment of HZ. However, limited antivirals are only licensed clinically for the treatment of HZ, including acyclovir, valacyclovir, famciclovir, brivudine, and amenamevir. Fortunately, some new antivirals against different types of Herpesviridae have been investigated and suggested as novel drugs against VZV. Therefore, this review focuses on discussing the difference in efficacy and safety in the currently licensed antivirals for the treatment of HZ, the applicability of future novel antivirals against VZV, and the preventive or therapeutic effects of these antivirals on ZAP or PHN.

• 대한의생명과학회지
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• 제24권2호
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• pp.138-142
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• 2018

The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in the Republic of Korea remains high when compared to the incidence in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The prompt diagnosis and effective treatment of latent TB infection (LTBI) are very important in terms of controlling the burden of TB. The tuberculin skin test (TST) has long been the "gold standard" assay for the diagnosis of LTBI. However, it can show false positive results due to Bacille Calmette-$Gu{\acute{e}}rin$ (BCG) vaccination and infection with many environmental nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM). The interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) using Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-specific antigens, was developed for the detection of LTBI. The QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube assay is one of the most commonly used forms of the IGRA. In order to compare the diagnostic efficacy of the TST and IGRA in relation to LTBI among BCG-vaccinated healthy donors, whole blood samples were collected from 51 participants, and the results of the TST and IGRA were compared. Of the 51 cases, 18 cases (35.3%) were positive and 33 cases (64.7%) were negative when using the TST, while four cases (7.8%) were positive and 47 cases (92.2%) negative when using the IGRA. There was no correlation between the size of the induration in the TST and the $IFN-{\gamma}$ protein level. In conclusion, the TST showed higher cross-reactivity among the BCG-vaccinated healthy participants, therefore, the IGRA might be the most suitable assay for the rapid screening of LTBI in BCG-vaccinated healthy population, or for TB contact investigation.

• 대한수의학회지
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.531-537
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• 1993

A study was carried out to define the relationship between the N-acetyl-$\beta$-D-glucosaminidase(NAGase) levels and isolated pathogenic bacteria in 379 quarter fore milk of mastitis suspected samples collected in this clinics. All samples were tested the NAGase, California mastitis test(CMT), Somatic cell count(SCC) and bacterial culture. Except 111 from 379 samples, 268 bacteria-positive quarter fore milk samples were classified into the latent and mastitis infection group by SCC($500,000cells\;per\;m{\ell}$), and the mean NAGase levels($nmol/min/m{\ell}$) of each isolated pathogen in mastitis infection group were Staphylococcus aureus 3.067, Coagulase-negative staphylococci 4.083, Staphylococcus aureus 3.594, Str. uberis 3.513, Str. dysgalactiae 1.640, E coli 4.441 and gram negative rods 4.560, respectively. Most of the relationship between mean SCC and NAGase in each pathogen group were highly significant using a student t test(p<0.05). When the mastitis pathogens were classified into minor(Coagulase-negative staphylococci, Corynebacterium sp.) and major pathogen group(Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Str. uberis, Str. dysgalactiae, gram negative rods), the NAGase levels were higher at major than minor pathogen group. On the other hand, when the mastitis milk samples were classified by SCC($500,000cells\;per\;m{\ell}$) and by the presence of pathogen(IDF scheme), the NAGase levels were also higher at the mastitis than latent infection. The possibility of combining SCC and NAGase data in order to give the more difinitive diagnosis is discussed.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• 제81권1호
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• pp.59-72
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• 2018

Background: It remains uncertain if $interferon-{\gamma}$ release assays (IGRAs) are superior to the tuberculin skin test (TST) for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis (TB) or latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in immunosuppressed populations including people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the performance of IGRAs and the TST in people with HIV with active TB or LTBI in low and high prevalence TB countries. Methods: We searched the MEDLINE database from 1966 through to January 2017 for studies that compared results of the TST with either the commercial QuantiFERON-TB Gold in Tube (QFTGT) assay or previous assay versions, the T-SPOT.TB assay or in-house IGRAs. Data were summarized by TB prevalence. Tests for concordance and differences in proportions were undertaken as appropriate. The variation in study methodology was appraised. Results: Thirty-two studies including 4,856 HIV subjects met the search criteria. Fourteen studies compared the tests in subjects with LTBI in low TB prevalence settings. The QFTGT had a similar rate of reactivity to the TST, although the first-generation version of that assay was reactive more commonly. IGRAs were more frequently positive than the TST in HIV infected subjects with active TB. There was considerable study methodology and population heterogeneity, and generally low concordance between tests. Both the TST and IGRAs were affected by CD4 T-cell immunodeficiency. Conclusion: Our review of comparative data does not provide robust evidence to support the assertion that the IGRAs are superior to the TST when used in HIV infected subjects to diagnose either active TB or LTBI.