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  • Title/Summary/Keyword: Screening Time

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Effective High-Throughput Blood Pooling Strategy before DNA Extraction for Detection of Malaria in Low-Transmission Settings

  • Nyunt, Myat Htut;Kyaw, Myat Phone;Thant, Kyaw Zin;Shein, Thinzer;Han, Soe Soe;Zaw, Ni Ni;Han, Jin-Hee;Lee, Seong-Kyun;Muh, Fauzi;Kim, Jung-Yeon;Cho, Shin-Hyeong;Lee, Sang-Eun;Yang, Eun-Jeong;Chang, Chulhun L.;Han, Eun-Taek
    • Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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    • v.54 no.3
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    • pp.253-259
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    • 2016
  • In the era of (pre) elimination setting, the prevalence of malaria has been decreasing in most of the previously endemic areas. Therefore, effective cost- and time-saving validated pooling strategy is needed for detection of malaria in low transmission settings. In this study, optimal pooling numbers and lowest detection limit were assessed using known density samples prepared systematically, followed by genomic DNA extraction and nested PCR. Pooling strategy that composed of 10 samples in 1 pool, 20μl in 1 sample, was optimal, and the parasite density as low as 2p/μl for both falciparum and vivax infection was enough for detection of malaria. This pooling method showed effectiveness for handling of a huge number of samples in low transmission settings (<9% positive rate). The results indicated that pooling of the blood samples before DNA extraction followed by usual nested PCR is useful and effective for detection of malaria in screening of hidden cases in low-transmission settings.

Patterns of Mercury Concentrations in Blood and Urine After High Mercury Exposure (고농도 수은 노출자의 혈 중 및 뇨 중 수은 농도 변화에 관한 연구)

  • 윤충식;임상혁;하권철
    • Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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    • v.27 no.3
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    • pp.71-80
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    • 2001
  • Blood and urine mercury level of three workers were monitored during 60~80 days after high exposure to mercury at the silver refining plant. Mercury was used to form silver-mercury amalgam from plating sludge. Workers were exposed to mercury about 70 days at the several processes, such as hand held weaving, vibration table, and heating from the furnace. mercury was analysed by atomic absorption spectroscopy-vapor generation technique. Recovery from the biological sample was 95.51% and pooled standard deviation was 0.033. At the time of study, there was no work at the workplace. So, airborne mercury concentration was measured with area sampling 5 days after the work, ranged from 0.1459 to 1.2351 mg/㎥(Arithmatic mean 0.4711 mg/㎥, Geometric mean 0.3566 mg/㎥) at the inside of the plant, that is far above the ACGIH's TLV(0.025 mg/㎥) and ranged from 0.0073 to 0.0330 mg/㎥ at the outdoor. Blood mercury levels at the beginning of the monitoring were 4~14 times greater than the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists Biological Exposure Index(ACGIH BEI, 15 ug/L). Blood mercury levels were decreased logarithmically, that is, rapidly at the high level and slowly at the low level but sustained above the level of the ACGIH BEI 60~80 days after the work. Urine mercury levels at the beginning of the monitoring were 8~16 times greater than the ACGIH BEI(35 ug/g creatinine). Urine mercury levels were decreased logarithmically, but correlation between urine level and off-days were lower than those of blood. Decreasing pattern of blood mercury levels were little affected than that of urine levels when the chelating agent, D-penicillamine, was administered. There was correlation between blood mercury level and urine mercury level(0.81~0.83) but it didn\`t mean that the highest blood mercury level corresponded the highest urine mercury level. In our study, Case 1 always shows the highest level in urine but case 3 always shows the highest level in blood. Creatinine correction represented better correlations between urine mercury levels and blood levels, and between urine levels and off-days rather than by urine volume. Spot urine sampling had a wide variation than that of whole day urine sampling. So, We recommend spot urine sampling for screening and whole day urine sampling for exact diagnosis.

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Outcomes of Child Contact Investigations of Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients: A Single Center Experience from 2012 to 2014 (활동성 폐결핵 환자의 소아청소년 접촉자 조사 결과: 2012년부터 2014년까지 단일 기관의 경험)

  • Lee, Taek-jin;Kim, Eun-kyung;Jeong, Hye-cheol
    • Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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    • v.22 no.2
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    • pp.91-96
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    • 2015
  • Purpose: The study aimed to determine data collected during tuberculosis (TB) contact investigations and to evaluate the outcomes of these investigations. Methods: We reviewed medical records for child contacts of patients with culture-positive pulmonary TB aged 19 years or older between August 2012 and July 2014. Results: A total of 116 child contacts were identified for 79 patients with culture-positive pulmonary TB. Of 116 contacts identified, 22% were incompletely screened. Of 90 contacts who completed screening, 42% had negative tuberculin skin test (TST) results, 58% had positive results, and 1% had active pulmonary TB at the time of investigation. Of 50 contacts with TB patients with a negative smear, 50% had positive TST results. Age 5 years (OR 8.3; 95% CI 2.3-30) and male gender (OR 3.9; 95% CI 1.5-9.9) were significantly associated with being incompletely screened. Conclusions: Improvement is needed in the process of contact investigations to ensure that contacts of patients with active pulmonary TB are identified and appropriately screened.

The Effect of Moxibustion at Chonjung(CV17, Shanzhong) on Patients with Dysphagia after Stroke (중풍환자(中風患者)의 연하장애(嚥下障碍)에 전중혈 구치료(灸治療)가 미치는 효과(效果))

  • Na, Byong-Jo;Rhee, Jun-Woo;Lee, Cha-Ro;Park, Young-Min;Choi, Chang-Min;Sun, Jong-Joo;Jung, Woo-Sang;Moon, Sang-Kwan;Park, Sung-Wook;Cho, Ki-Ho;Kim, Tae-Hun
    • The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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    • v.26 no.2
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    • pp.353-359
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    • 2005
  • Objectives: Dysphagia is a common in stroke patients. Dysphagia often affects the rehabilitation of stroke patients by increasing the risk of nutritional deficits and aspiration pneumonia. Despite the proliferation of physical therapies including swallowing training, much controversy remains regarding the application and benefit of them. Therefore, in this study, the clinical effect of moxibustion at Chonjung(CV17, Shanzhong) on post-stroke dysphagia were assessed using Swallowing Provocation Test(SPT). Methods: Dysphagia subjects were selected by Dysphagia Screening Test. Swallowing function was tested by Swallowing Provocation Test(sec). Direct moxibustion was applied to the acupoint, Chonjung, five times and Swallowing Provocation Test was performed before and after 30 minute. The Latency Time of Swallowing Reflex (LTSR) was checked by SPT. To find factors related with improving swallowing function, Cold-Heat and Excess-Deficiency Diagnosis were considered. Results: A total of 42 patient were included, but two of them were excluded due to severe coughing. Overall, the swallowing reflex improved significantly. In subgroup analysis on brain lesion, non-brain stem lesion patients significantly improved. Moxibustion was more effective in the cold group than in the heat group, but there were no differences between the Excess and the Deficiency groups. Conclusions: The result of this clinical study suggest that moxibustion at Chonjung(CV17, Shanzhong) is an effective treatment for the dysphagia patients after stroke, especially in non-brain stem lesion and the cold diagnosed patients.

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A Review of Acupuncture and Moxibustion for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease (파킨슨병의 침구치료 동향에 대한 고찰)

  • Lee, Eun;Kang, Ki-Wan;Kim, Lak-Hyung;Kang, Sei-Young;Sun, Seung-Ho;Han, Chang-Ho;Jang, In-Soo
    • The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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    • v.35 no.1
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    • pp.12-23
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    • 2014
  • Objectives : The purpose of this study was to report possibility of acupuncture or moxibustion for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) by reviewing literature about its effectiveness. Methods : In this review, PubMed, SCOPUS, Science Direct and CINAHL of EBSCOhost were used to search medical journals, using keywords "Parkinson's disease and acupuncture" and "Parkinson's disease and moxibustion". The search range included randomized controlled trials (RCT) about Parkinson's disease combined with another disease and other treatments with acupuncture or moxibustion. Non-randomized controlled trial (nRCT), case study, animal experiment, human experiment, review, survey, essay, letter, and protocol for review were excluded. Results : From 311 studies, 111 were selected during the title and the screening. Finally, 16 RCTs (15 for acupuncture research and one for moxibustion) were included in this review, after scanning and matching the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The number of patients varied between 5 and 88. A total of 12 studies using electroacupuncture (EA) were classified into acupuncture studies. The body acupuncture studies numbered 4, scalp acupuncture 4, body and scarp acupuncture mixed studies 4, and bee venom, ear and abdomen acupuncture were each one study. In evaluation methods, total effective rate method was used in 9 studies, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) was used in 8, and the Webster score in 2. In addition, the Berg balance scale (BBS), 30 m walking time, steps to walk 30 m, PD motor function score, and Motor Performance Series by Schoppe (MLS) method were used for evaluation. In 15 of the 16 studies, the verum acupuncture group showed significant improvement compared with the control. In 9 studies using total effective rate method, the effective rate was reported as 80.0-97.3% in verum acupuncture groups and 52.6-86.4% in controls. Conclusions : Acupuncture may be a plausible alternative method to care for the long term symptoms and treat movement impairment of Parkinson's disease. However, to confirm this result, high quality studies including randomized, placebo-controlled double-blind trials are warranted.

Immune Function-enhancing Effects of Bojungikkitanggami-bang (보중익기탕가미방의 면역기능 증진 효과)

  • Lee Sang Hun;Lee Seung Eon;Lee Si Hyeong;Shin Jo Young
    • Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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    • v.18 no.2
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    • pp.528-533
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    • 2004
  • The immune system acts to protect the host from infectious agents that exist in the environment and from other noxious insults. The immune system has two functional divisions: the innate and the acquired. Both components involve various factors such as cytokines. A number of methodologies exist to assess aspects of immune function. There are large inter-individual variations in many immune functions even among the healthy. Genetics, age, gender, smoking habits, habitual levels of exercise, alcohol consumption, diet, stage in the female menstrual cycle, stress, history of infections and vaccinations, and early life experiences are likely to be important contributors to the observed variation. While it is clear that individuals with immune responses significantly below 'normal' are more susceptible to infectious agents and exhibit increased infectious morbidity and mortality, it is not clear how the variation in immune function among healthy individuals relates to variation in susceptibility to infection. Oriental medicine is an important factor contributing to immune competence. The author investigated the immune enhancement effects of Bojungikkitanggami-bang (BITB). The forced swimming test (FST) has been used as a screening model for new immune enhancement agents. In the present study, the author investigated the effects of BITB on FST and blood biochemical parameters related to fatigue, glucose (Glc); blood urea nitrogen (BUN); lactate dehydrogenase (LDH); creatinine; and total protein (TP). The author found that BITB (1 g/kg) significantly reduced the immobility time in the FST compared to the control. In addition, the contents of Glc, LDH, BUN, TP in the blood serum were increased in BITB (1g/kg)-fed group. Also, the author investigated the effects of BITB on the production of cytokines in human T-cell line, MOLT-4 cells. BITB (1 mg/ml) significantly increased the interferon (IFN)-vproduction compared with media control (about 2.2-fold for IFN-γ) at 24 h. However, BITB has not affect the production of IL-2 and IL-4. In addition, BITB increased the protein expression level of IFN-γ in MOLT-4 cells. Thus, BITB may have therapeutic value in generating or enhancing immune function in a clinical setting.

Eficacy and Sfety Human Study of the Ethanol Extracts from Lythrum Salicaria L. and Aceriphyllum Rossii for Reducing Body Fat Percentage of Korean Adult (털부처꽃과 돌단풍 에탄올 추출물의 한국 성인 체지방량 감소에 대한 유효성 및 안전성에 관한 인체적용시험)

  • Park, Won Hyung;Sun, Seung Ho;Cha, Yun Yeop
    • Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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    • v.27 no.6
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    • pp.832-841
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    • 2013
  • This research, as a basic preliminary study for development of functional health food, is aimed at assessing the body fat reduction effect and for application to human body for such reduction in actual clinical settings by preliminary extraction of 2 types of wild edible greens, Lythrum salicaria L. and Aceriphyllum rossii. Subjects over the age of 19 and less than 60 years old with BMI value range of 23.0kg/m229.9kg/m2 were recruited through screening were divided into experimental group and control group, each with 25 subjects, through randomized allocation. With both patients and evaluators wearing blindfold, the experimental group was orally administered with 4 capsules of 500mg of composite preparation containing the extracts of Lythrum salicaria L. and Aceriphyllum rossii 3 times a day for a period of 8 weeks while the control group was orally administered with 4 capsules of 500mg of placebo (fake food) with the same appearance as the preparation administered to the experimental group 3 times a day for a period of 8 weeks. After having carried out evaluation on physical examinations (body weight, BMI and body fat ratio, etc.), laboratory tests (general blood test, biochemical test of blood and urine test), lipid test, the changes were analyzed. There was no significant change between the 2 groups and within the groups in BMI and body fat ratio, which are the primary effectiveness evaluation at each time. There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in serum lipid and WHR, obesity related KOQOL, KEAT-26 which are the secondary effectiveness evaluations. There was no change between the 2 groups and within the groups in vital sign, CBC, BC and urin test. These results suggest that Lythrum salicaria L. and Aceriphyllum rossii ext. showed no significant reduction in BMI, body fat ratio and serum lipid. Additional confirmative clinical application test is needed in the future.

Phytochemical constituents of Coix lachryma-jobi var. ma-yuen roots and their tyrosinase inhibitory activity (율무근의 식물화학적 성분 연구 및 Tyrosinase 저해 활성)

  • Choi, Yun-Hyeok;Choi, Chun Whan;Lee, Jae Yeon;Ahn, Eun-Kyung;Oh, Joa Sub;Hong, Seong Su
    • Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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    • v.60 no.1
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    • pp.49-54
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    • 2017
  • In the course of screening tyrosinase inhibitory activity, EtOAc-soluble fraction of Coix lachryma-jobi var. mayuen Stapf. (Gramineae) roots showed significant inhibition. Further fractionation of the EtOAc-soluble fraction resulted in six compounds, which were identified as (+)-icariol A2 (1), zhepiresionol (2), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (3), trans-ρ-coumaric acid (4), N-(2-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)-2-hydroxyacetamide (5), and coixol (6). The chemical structures of these compounds were identified on the basis of spectroscopic methods (MS, 1D and 2D NMR) and comparison with literature values. Compound 1 was first reported from this plant. Also, this is the first time that the isolation of compound 5 has been reported from nature source. Among the isolated compounds, compounds 4 and 6 showed enzyme inhibitory activity, with IC50 values of 6.5 and 62.4μM, respectively, in comparison with these of positive control, arbutin.

The Positive Rate for Serum Anti-HBs in Korean since the Universal Carrying Out of HB Vaccination (B형 간염백신 접종시행 이후 혈청 Anti-HBs 양성율에 관한 조사)

  • Lee, Heon-Ju;Chung, Moon-Kwan;Kim, Chong-Suhl
    • Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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    • v.4 no.1
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    • pp.75-80
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    • 1987
  • The positive rate for serum anti-HBs was analized among 424 of HB vaccinated and 2035 of non-vaccinated cases at the Yeungnam University Hospital, Computed Automated Med-screening Center. Most of them from Kyungbook province and they had the last HB vaccination in the periods of 3 to 42months prior to this study. The followings were obtained. 1. The positive rates for serum HBsAg were 0.7% in the vaccinees, 9.6% in the non-vaccinated and 8.0% in the whole cases. 2. The positive rates for serum anti-HBs were 66.3% in the vaccinees, 47.9% in the non-vaccinated and 51.0% in the whole cases. 3. The positive rates for serum anti-HBs were 51.4% in the cases with one time of vaccination and 68.6% in the cases with two times of vaccination. on the vasis of these findings the positive rate for serum anti-HBs among the vaccinees was significantly higher than thau of non-vaccinated(P<0.05). The positive rate for seaum anti-HBs shortly after vaccination was higher than that of present our study which was made relatively long period after vaccination. As the reason a natural decrease of the titers of the serum anti-HBs can be postulated as one of the contributing factors for the discrepancy. In order to keep the serum antibody of perfect protectivity against HBV, it may be better to check the serum anti-HBs just after vaccination, follow up and take booster injection when it is needed.

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In Vitro Screening for Compounds Derived from Traditional Chinese Medicines with Antiviral Activities Against Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus

  • Cheng, Jia;Sun, Na;Zhao, Xin;Niu, Li;Song, Meiqin;Sun, Yaogui;Jiang, Junbing;Guo, Jianhua;Bai, Yuansheng;He, Junping;Li, Hongquan
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.23 no.8
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    • pp.1076-1083
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    • 2013
  • Seventeen compounds derived from traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) were tested for their antiviral activity against porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in vitro. Visualization with the cytopathologic effect (CPE) assay and the 3-(4, 5-dimethyithiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide test were used to determine the 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) and 50% effective concentration (EC50) in cultured Marc-145 cells. Among the tested compounds, chlorogenic acid and scutellarin showed potential anti-PRRSV activity. The EC50 values were 270.8±14.6μg/ml and 28.21±26.0μg/ml and the selectivity indexes were >5.54 and 35.5, respectively. The time-of-addition and virucidal assay indicated that the anti-PRRSV activity of the two compounds could be due to their inhibiting the early stage of virus replication and/or inactivating the virus directly. The inhibition of the virus attachment was not observed in the adsorption inhibition assay. The inhibition ratios of chlorogenic acid and scutellarin were, respectively, 90.8% and 61.1% at the maximum non-cytotoxic concentrations. The results have provided a basis for further exploration of their antiviral properties and mechanisms in vivo. We believe that the chlorogenic acid and scutellarin have a great potential to be developed as new anti-PRRSV drugs for clinical application.