• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.289-296
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• 2018

Purpose: We aimed to study the pattern of liver-injury in children with dengue fever (DF) and validate serum aminotransferase ${\geq}1,000IU/L$ as a marker of severe DF. Methods: Children admitted with DF were included. DF was defined by presence of clinical criteria and positive serological or antigen tests in absence of other etiology. DF severity was graded as dengue without or with warning signs and severe dengue. Liver-injury was defined as alanine aminotransferase (ALT) more than twice the upper limit of normal (boys, 30 IU/L; girls, 21 IU/L). Results: Of 372 children with DF, 144 (38.7%) had liver-injury. Risk of liver-injury and aminotransferase levels increased with DF severity (p<0.001). Recommended ALT and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) cut-off at ${\geq}1,000IU/L$ had sensitivity 4.8% (5/105), specificity 99.3% (265/267) for detection of severe DF. In children with ALT and AST <1,000 IU/L (n=365), the area under receiver operating curves for prediction for severe DF, were 0.651 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.588-0.714; p<0.001) for ALT and 0.647 (95% CI, 0.582-0.712; p<0.001) for AST. Serum ALT at 376 IU/L and AST at 635 IU/L had sensitivity and specificity comparable to ${\geq}1,000IU/L$ for defining severe DF. Conclusion: Liver-injury is common in DF. The ALT and AST levels increase with DF severity. ALT and AST levels of ${\geq}1,000IU/L$ could be lowered to 376 IU/L and 635 IU/L respectively for defining severe DF.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.101-107
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• 2004

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage is a rare but serious and frequently life-threatening complication of a variety of conditions. The first goal in the management of patients with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage is to achieve or preserve stability of the respiratory status. Subsequently, the differential diagnosis is aimed at the identification of a remediable cause of the alveolar hemorrhage. The most common causes of diffuse alveolar hemorrhage with glomerulonephritis are microscopic polyangiitis and Wegener's granulomatosis, followed by Goodpasture syndrome and systemic lupus erythematosus. Microscopic polyangiitis (MPA) is a distinct systemic small vessle vasculitis affecting small sized vessels with few or no immune deposits and with no granulomatosus inflammation. The disease may involve multiple organs such as kidney, lung, skin, joint, muscle, gastrointestinal tract, eye, and nervous system. MPA is strongly associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA) that is a useful serological diagnostic marker for the most common form of necrotizing vasculitis. Our report concerns a case of microscopic polyangiitis with diffuse alveolar hemorrhage in a 54-year-old man. He was admitted to our hospital due to dyspnea upon exertion and recurrent hemoptysis. Laboratory findings showed hematuria, proteinuria and deterioration of renal function. In the chest CT scan, diffuse ground glass appearance was seen in both lower lungs. A lung biopsy revealed small vessel vasculitis with intraalveolar hemorrhage and showed a positive reaction to against perinuclear ANCA. The patient was treated with prednisolone and cyclophosphamide. Chest infiltration decreased and hemoptysis and hypoxia improved. He is still being followed up in our hospital with a low dose of prednisolone.

• BMB Reports
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.683-689
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• 2005

Antibody to hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAb) is the important serological marker of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Conventionally, the hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) obtained from the plasma of HBV carriers is used as the diagnostic antigen for detection of HBsAb. This blood-origin antigen has some disadvantages involved in high cost, over-elaborate preparation, risk of infection, et al. In an attempt to explore the suitable recombinant HBsAg for the diagnostic purpose, the HBV S gene was expressed in Pichia pastoris and the product was applied for detection of HBsAb. Hepatitis B virus S gene was inserted into the yeast vector and the expressed product was analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrolamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), immunoblot, electronic microscope and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The preparations of synthesized S protein were applied to detect HBsAb by sandwich ELISA. The S gene encoding the 226 amino acid of HBsAg carrying ahexa-histidine tag at C terminus was successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris. The His-Tagged S protein in this strain was expressed at a level of about 14.5% of total cell protein. Immunoblot showed the recombinant HBsAg recognized by monoclonal HBsAb and there was no cross reaction between all proteins from the host and normal sera. HBsAb detection indicated that the sensitivity reached 10 mIu (micro international unit)/ml and the specificity was 100% with HBsAb standard of National Center for Clinical Laboratories. A total of 293 random sera were assayed using recombinant S protein and a commercial HBsAb ELISA kit (produced by blood-origin HBsAg), 35 HBsAb positive sera and 258 HBsAb negative sera were examined. The same results were obtained with two different reagents and there was no significant difference in the value of S/CO between the two reagents. The recombinant HBV S protein with good immunoreactivity and specificity was successfully expressed in Pichia pastoris. The reagent for HBsAb detection prepared by Pichia pastoris-derived S protein showed high sensitivity and specificity for detection of HBsAb standard. And a good correlation was obtained between the reagent produced by recombinant S protein and commercial kit produced by blood-origin HBsAg in random samples.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.487-493
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• 2011

Alpha fetoprotein(AFP), which is serological marker for hepatocellular carcinoma, was quantitatively measured by its normal concentration, 10 ng/ml, with a label-free piezoelectric microcantilever mass sensor. The principle of detection is based on changes in the resonant frequency of the piezoelectric microcantilever before and after target molecules are attached to it, and its resonant frequency is measured electrically using a conductance spectrum. The resonant frequency of the developed sensor is approximately 1.34 MHz and the mass sensitivity is approximately 175 Hz/pg. The sensor has high reliability as mass sensor by reducing the effect of surface stress on resonant frequency due to attached proteins. 'Dip and dry' technique was used to react the sensor with reagents for immobilizing AFP antibody on the sensor and detecting AFP antigen. The measured mass of the detected AFP antigen was 6.02 pg at the concentration of 10 ng/ml, and 10.67 pg at 50 ng/ml when the immunoreaction time was 10 min.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.1801-1810
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• 2016

Recent discovery showing the presence of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the circulation sparked interest in their use as potential biomarkers. Our previous studies showed the diagnostic potential of miR-451 as a serological marker for inflammatory breast cancer (IBC), miR-337-5p and miR-30b for non-inflammatory breast cancer (non-IBC). The aim of this study is to investigate the prognostic values of circulating miRNAs by comparing the amounts of 12 circulating miRNAs in the serum of IBC and non-IBC from Tunisian breast cancer patients, and by determinating whether correlated pairs of miRNAs could provide useful information in the diagnosis of IBC and non-IBC patients. TaqMan qPCR was performed to detect circulating expression of miRNAs in serum of 20 IBC, 20 non-IBC and 20 healthy controls. Nonparametric rank Spearman rho correlation coefficient was used to examine the prognostic value of miRNAs and to assess the correlation profile between miRNAs expression. Further, a large number of miRNAs were highly correlated (rho>0.5) in both patients groups and controls. Also, the correlations profiles were different between IBC, non-IBC and healthy controls indicating important changes in molecular pathways in cancer cells. Our results showed that miR-335 was significantly overexpressed in premenopausal non-IBC patients; miR-24 was significantly overexpressed in non-IBC postmenopausal patients. Patients with previous parity had higher serum of miR-342-5p levels than those without. Furthermore, patients with HER2+ IBC present lower serum levels of miR-15a than patients with HER2-disease. Together, these results underline the potential of miRNAs to function as diagnostic and prognostic markers for IBC and non-IBC, with links to the menopausal state, Her2 status and parity.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.143-151
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• 2000

Purpose : The accuracy of bacteriologic diagnosis of beta-hemolytic streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis depends on the degree of carrier rate in that area where the throat swabs are obtained and the evaluation of serological T typing as an epidemiologic marker is important to understand epidemiology of streptococcal infection. The purpose of this study is to know the carrier rates of group A streptococcus in normal children form four different areas and to find out the epidemiologic characteristic in distribution of the serotypes for 3 years. Method : Throat swabs were obtained from the tonsillar fossa of normal school children in four different areas(Uljin, Seoul, Osan, Kunsan) from March to May 1996, in Uljin in April 1997, and in Uljin in April 1998. The samples were plated on a 5% sheep blood agar plate and incubated overnight at $37^{\circ}C$ before examination for the presence of beta-hemolytic colonies. All isolated beta-hemolytic streptococcus were grouped and serotyped by T agglutination. Results : The carrier rate of beta-hemolytic streptococci and group A streptococci in 1996 were 27.6%, 18.6% at Uljin; 16.4%, 2.7% at Seoul; 33.0%, 26.0% at Osan; 20.0%, 12.3% at Kunsan, respectively. Among 1,192 normal school children from 4 different areas, we obtained 179 strains of group A streptococci. Fifty two percent of the strains were typable by T agglutination in 1996. Common T-type in 1996 were NT, T1, T3, T2 at Uljin; T12, T25 at Seoul; NT, T6, T28 at Osan; T25, T4, NT, T5 at Kunsan, in decreasing order, respectively. At Uljin, T1, T3, T25 accounted for 69% of strains in 1996, T1, T12, T25 accounted for 70% in 1997, and T12, T4 accounted for 88% in 1998. Conclusion : Higher carrier rates were found in Uljin and Osan, where there are a lower population density with scanty of medical facilities compared with another areas. We supposed that low carrier rates is likely to be related to antibiotic abuse or some epidemiologic factor. The periodic and seasonal serotyping analysis is important in monitoring and understanding the epidemiologic patterns of group A streptococci.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.878-887
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• 1995

Background: It is reported that frequency of pulmonary involvement in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis reaches 10 to 50% and pulmonary involvement is a principal cause of death. As immunology and radiology has developed, interest for the early diagnosis of pulmonary involvement is increasing. Method: Among the patients at Hanyang University Hospital from March, 1990 to July, 1995, we compared the 29 patients having pulmonary involvement with the 18 patients controls in clinical and chest high resolution computed tomography(HRCT) findings by immunological markers and findings of pulmonary function test. We sought useful markers for early diagnosis of pulmonary involvement with noninvasive investigations. Results: The ratio of males to females was 14 : 15 in the group of pulmonary involvement, and all of the 18 patients were females in the control group. Smoking history was 31%(9/29) in the former group and none in the latter group. Rheumatoid factor(RF) was positive in 95.5%(28/29) of the pulmonary involvement group and in 100%(18/18) of the control group(p=0.12). Antiperinuclear factor(APF) showed a significant difference: 86.9%(20/23, average value: 2.0) was positive in the pulmonary involvement group and 50%(8/16, average value: 1.1) in the control group(p=0.04). Antinuclear antibody(ANA) was positive in 60.7%(17/28) of the pulmonary involvement group and in 72.2%(13/18) of the control group(p=0.33). Cryoglobulin also showed a significant difference: 72%(18/25) in the pulmonary involvement group was positive and 56.2%(9/16) in the control group was positive(p=0.02). Bony erosion was positive in 61.5%(16/26) of the pulmonary involvement group and in 77.7%(14/18) of the control group(p=0.8). On the pulmonary function test, the average value of alveolar volume corrected diffusion capacity and residual volume in the pulmonary involvement group and in the control group were 1.07mmol/rnin/KPa(predicted value: 64.2%), 1.32L(predicted value: 70%) and 1.44mmol/min/KPa, 3.75L(predicted value: 86.6%), respectively(p=0.003, p=0.004), showing a significant difference. Conclusion: APF or cryoglobulin on the serological test, the measurement of residual volume and alveolar volume corrected diffusion capacity may be used as effective markers in the diagnosis of pulmonary involvement of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis.