OBJECTIVETo explore adverse effects of combined treatment of interleukin-12 (IL-12) and interleukin-18 (IL-18) against cryptococcosis in a murine model.

METHODSInfected mice were treated with a combination of IL-12 and IL-18. Their body weight and intake of water and food were observed and recorded. Serum levels of leptin were detected with an enzyme-linked immuno sorbent assay (ELISA).

RESULTSIn the combined treatment group, the intake volume of water and food were reduced, leading to weight loss and undetectable levels of leptin in the serum. These adverse effects were more profound in mice that had received higher doses of cytokines, which sometimes led to a fatal outcome. There was a significant difference compared with the control group. Neutralization of endogenous tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) by its specific mAb did not alter the wasting effect of this treatment.

CONCLUSIONSThe combined IL-12/IL-18 treatment may cause a number of adverse effects independent of TNF-alpha and leptin synthesis. Further investigations for resolving these adverse effects are required before clinical application of these cytokines.

Animals ; Cryptococcosis ; drug therapy ; Disease Models, Animal ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Female ; Interleukin-12 ; adverse effects ; Interleukin-18 ; adverse effects ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred A

Background: We organized the MEQAS (Mongolian External Quality Assessment Scheme) since 2008, on basis of the Cooperation agreement between Ministry of Health and Sysmex Corporation in the establishment of Hematology external quality control and reference laboratory system.
Therefore, since 2017 year we have set up from 1^st to 4^th External Quality Assessment (EQA) for blood morphology testing. Method: This EQA for blood morphology testing included 177 clinical pathologists, 57 technologists, and 36 technicians (270 participants in total). We assessed their ability to distinguish the blood cells on a real-time basis online. Result, discussion: Out of all participants, the clinical pathologists got marks ranging 70.1%, technologists got 59.0%, technicians got 58.2%. Continual trainings should be organized by different programs for laboratory specialists. A real-time online method was adopted in an EQA for the first time. This allowed the participants to know their results immediately after completing the assessment.
The overall results of the participants were generated in form of graphs immediately after the completion of the EQA. This allowed for visualization of areas where the percentage of correct answers were low, which were explained extensively during the discussion of answers.
As the results directly reflect the knowledge and skills of each participants, this form of EQA is suggested to be an extremely useful mean for determining the future education platform. Conclusions
1. The ability of clinical pathologists to distinguish blood cells and to interpretation are unsatisfactory.
2. The ability of biomedical technologists and technicians to distinguish blood cells are unsatisfactory.