No abstract available.
Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome*

BACKGROUND: There is still risk of acquiring HCV and HIV by transfusion due to window phase. Screening for HCV and HIV-1 by nucleic acid amplification testing (NAT) may improve blood safety allowing detection during the preseroconversion window in donors. METHODS: We investigated NAT usefulness using COBAS AMPLICOR analyzer (Roche). The following sample population were tested:1) 15,552 HCV/HIV-1 seronegative random blood donor samples for HCV and HIV-1 NAT;2) 696 high ALT and 271 HCV EIA positive samples for HCV NAT;3) 1,152 HIV-1 EIA reactive samples for HIV-1 NAT. NAT was performed on pools of 24 donations according to the assay protocol. RESLUTS: Six pools showed initial reactive reactions in HCV NAT and one pool showed initial reactive reaction in HIV-1 NAT. But no donor sample was found repeatedly reactive by this assay. CONCLUSIONS: Although there were false positive reactions, specificity of the NAT assay was high enough for the assay to be applied as a blood screening test and implementation of this assay is expected to improve blood safety and be useful for blood products use.
Blood Donors* ; Blood Safety ; False Positive Reactions ; HIV ; HIV-1* ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tissue Donors

OBJECTIVES: This study was carried out to assess psychosocial distress of lead workers and to examine the relationship between lead exposure indices and psychosocial distress. METHODS: The study design was cross-sectional and research subjects were 234 lead workers in primary smelting industry. General characteristics, job characteristics and social support were obtained by self-administered questionnaire and history taking. Psychosocial distress was measured using PWI(Psychosocial Well-being Index), a 45-item self-administered instrument. Blood lead(PbB), zinc protoporphyrin(ZPP), -aminolevulinic acid in urine(ALAU) were selected as indicators of lead exposure. RESULTS: There was significant difference in PWI according to lead exposure level and job characteristics. The results of correlation analysis showed that PWI was significantly correlated with PbB(r=0.203, P=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Our results supported the association between lead exposure and psychosocial distress. The inclusion of psychosocial distress measurement as a special health examination for lead workers was highly recommended for the effective health management.
Humans ; Osmeriformes ; Questionnaires ; Research Subjects ; Zinc

PURPOSE: Angiostatin, a 38 kDa internal fragment of plasminogen, is a potent inhibitor of angiogenesis. It blocks neovascularization and growth of primary and metastatic tumors in mice. To produce recombinant angiostatin protem comprising kringle 1-4 of plasminogen, we cloned the angiostatin cDNA from human liver tissue mRNA and expressed it in E. coli. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We cloned angiostatin cDNA from human liver tissue mRNA using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method. Cloned cDNA was ligated to pET22b (+) expression vector, transformed into E. coli stram BL21 (DE3) and expressed by IPTG induction. Recombinant human angiostatin protein was purified from the inclusion bodies of lysated bacterial pellet with 8 M urea solubilization, refolding, single step Lysine-Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography and 0.2 M E-aminocarproic acid elution. The anti-angiogenic activity of purified recombinant angiostatin was assayed with endothelial cell proliferation assay and chorioallantoic membrane assay (CAM). RESULTS: The identification of cloned angiostatin cDNA was confirmed by Southern hybridization and Pst I restriction enzyme digestion pattern. Angiostatin cDNA was expressed in E. coli, refolded in vitro and purified by Lysine Sepharose 4B affinity chromatography. The molecular weight of purified recombinant angiostatin was about 55 kDa on the SDS-PAGE. It inhibited the proliferation of bovine capillary endothelial (BCE) cells in vitro with a half-maximal inhibition concentration (ED50) of approximately 500 ng/mL. It also suppressed neovasculrization on the CAM assay. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrated that recombinant human angiostatin has similar function and biological activity compared with human angiostatin which is purified from porcine elastase digested human plasminogen fragment.
Angiostatins* ; Animals ; Capillaries ; Chorioallantoic Membrane ; Chromatography, Affinity ; Clone Cells* ; Cloning, Organism* ; Digestion ; DNA, Complementary* ; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel ; Endothelial Cells ; Humans* ; Inclusion Bodies ; Isopropyl Thiogalactoside ; Kringles ; Liver* ; Lysine ; Mice ; Molecular Weight ; Pancreatic Elastase ; Plasminogen ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; RNA, Messenger* ; Sepharose ; Urea

BACKGROUND: In Korean Red Cross, recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA) has been used for the confirmatory test of HCV positive units since 1995. To certify the HCV infection in blood donors who showed the 'indeterminate result on the RIBA test, this study was performed. METHODS: Three enzyme immunoassay (EIA) kits (LG HCD 3.0, DONG-A HCV 3.0, and ORTHO HCV 3.0)and RNA detection method were employed to evaluate infection state of 135 samples of the 'indeterminate in the RIBA test. RESULTS: The 52.6% of the samples showed the same test results with three EIA kits. Fifteen samples (11.1%) were HCV RNA positive with RT-PCR-hybridization technique. Among 15 samples of HCV RNA positive, 13 (86.7%), 13 (86.7%), and 14(93.3%) of samples were positive in LG HCD 3.0, Ortho HCV 3.0 and Dong-A HCV 3.0 EIA, respectively. In the analysis of RIBA band reaction, HCV RNA positivity were correlated with core14, core518, and 897 antigen. However, among 64 samples which react with core antigen only, five samples (7.8%) were HCV RNA positive. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of the present study, it is recommend that the HCV RNA test be used as a method of confirmatory test in order to notify exact HCV positivity status to blood donor who showed indeterminate RIBA result.
Blood Donors* ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Red Cross ; RNA ; Tissue Donors*

BACKGROUND: The bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is one of the leading causes of sexually transmitted diseases worldwide. Since no simple and effective tool exists to diagnose C. trachomatis infections, we evaluated a novel point-of-care (POC) test, aQcare Chlamydia TRF kit, which uses europium-chelated nanoparticles and a time-resolved fluorescence reader. METHODS: The test performance was evaluated by comparing the results obtained using the novel POC testing kit with those obtained using a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT), using 114 NAAT-positive and 327 NAAT-negative samples. RESULTS: The cut-off value of the novel test was 20.8 with a detection limit of 0.27 ng/mL. No interference or cross-reactivity was observed. Diagnostic accuracy showed an overall sensitivity of 93.0% (106/114), specificity of 96.3% (315/327), positive predictive value (PPV) of 89.8% (106/118), and negative predictive value (NPV) of 97.5% (315/323). The sensitivity of the novel test was much higher than that of currently available POC tests. Furthermore, the relative ease and short turnaround time (30 min) of this assay enables C. trachomatis-infected individuals to be treated without a diagnostic delay. CONCLUSIONS: This simple and novel test is a potential tool to screen a larger population, especially those in areas with limited resources.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Chlamydia Infections/*diagnosis ; Chlamydia trachomatis/*genetics/isolation & purification ; DNA, Bacterial/chemistry/metabolism ; Europium/*chemistry ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Metal Nanoparticles/*chemistry ; Middle Aged ; Point-of-Care Systems ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Young Adult

The influence of lead exposure on renal function was studied. Three hundred forty two male lead exposed workers who worked in 3 storage battery factories, 5 secondary smelting factories and 3 litharge making factories, and 60 male control workers who were not exposed to lead occupationally were chosen for this study. Blood lead (PbB), zinc protoporphyrin in whole blood (ZPP) and delta-aminolevulinic acid in urine (DALA) were selected as indicators of lead exposure. As indicators of renal function blood urea nitrogen(BUN) , serum creatinine(S-Cr), serum uric acid (S-UA), N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase in urine (NAG) and urine protein (U-TP) were selected. While the mean values of lead exposure indicators of lead workers were significantly different from non-exposed ones, the mean values of renal function indicators of exposed except S-UA were significantly different from non-exposed. The frequency of workers whose value of renal function indicators were over the nor mal criteria (BUN>20 mg/dl ; S-Cr>1.2 mg/dl ; S-UA>7.0 mg/dl ; NAG>8.0 U/liter; U-TP>8.0 mg/dl) by the level of lead absorption in terms of PbB, ZPP and DALA were calculated. Age adjusted odds ratio of over the normal value of BUN and NAG were statistically significant by the level of ZPP and that of BUN only showed the dose-dependant relationship. But the frequency of over the normal criteria of renal function indicators were not increased by the level of PbB and DALA. On stepwise multiple regression using renal function indicators as a dependent variable and each lead exposure indicator and age as independent variables, only BUN, NAG and U-TP were contributed by the lead exposure indicators. It was found that only NAG of renal function indices was most reliable indicator who showed dose-response relationship with lead exposure and the measurement of NAG for lead workers whose relatively high exposure is highly recommended.
Absorption ; Acetylglucosaminidase ; Aminolevulinic Acid ; Humans ; Male ; Occupations* ; Odds Ratio ; Osmeriformes ; Reference Values ; Urea ; Uric Acid ; Zinc

OBJECTIVES: Protein kinase C(PKC), a calcium and phospholipid dependent enzyme, is activated by lead in vitro at picomolar concentrations. However, the effect of lead on PKC has never been studied in a human population. The purpose of the study was to evaluate whether lead exposure was associated with PKC mediated-phosphorylation in erythrocytes among lead workers. METHODS: Two hundred and twelve lead workers were studied. To determine the levels of phosphorylation in vivo, an in vitro back phosphorylation technique was used by adding PKC and gamma-32P to preparations of erythrocyte membranes. We measured back phosphorylations of erythrocyte membrane proteins, spectrin, and 52 kDa and 48 kDa, as an indirect measure of PKC activation in vivo. RESULTS: The mean(SD) age and exposure duration was 39.1(10.0) years and 8.1(6.5) years, respectively. Tibial lead ranged from 0.8 to 290.8 microgram Pb/g bone mineral with a mean(SD) of 34.4(35.2) microgram Pb/g bone mineral. The means(SD) of back phosphorylation levels of the three proteins were 540.7(304.1), 198.6(78.2), and 247.7(83.3) photostimulated luminescence units(PSL), respectively, by phosphoimager. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, tibial lead and exposure duration were significantly and inversely associated with back phosphorylation levels. One unit of increase in tibial lead(1 microgram Pb/g bone mineral) is associated with a decline in spectrin, band 4.9 52 kDa, and band 4.9 48 kDa back phosphorylation levels by 1.4(P<0.05), 0.34(P<0.05), and 0.47(P<0.01), respectively. However, there were no associations between the back phosphorylation levels and either blood lead or ZPP levels. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the PKC activity in erythrocytes is increased by chronic lead exposure and that erythrocyte membrane protein phosphorylation may be a biomarker of lead exposure.
Calcium ; Erythrocyte Membrane ; Erythrocytes* ; Humans ; Luminescence ; Phosphorylation ; Protein Kinase C* ; Protein Kinases* ; Spectrin

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether a relation between blood lead and zinc proto porphyrin(ZPP) was modified by gender in Korean lead workers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 1,304 male and 101 female subjects in 1997. The relation between blood lead and ZPP were evaluated with linear, exponential, and quadratic models. Then, the different effect of gender on the relation was examined by adding the interaction terms in the each model. RESULTS: Mean+/-SD of blood lead and ZPP level was different between male(27.7+/-10 microgram /dl and 51.3+/-23.4 microgram/dl) and female subjects(22.5+/-9.2 microgram/dl and 78.7+/-38.6 microgram/dl). After adjusting for possible confounders, the effect modification by gender was significant in linear(beta=1.119, p<0.001), exponential(beta=Exp(0.008), p<0.05), and quadratic model(beta= 1.388, p<0.001). In separate analysis, a quadratic relation between blood lead and ZPP was shown in male lead workers(beta=0.036, p<0.001), but an exponential relation in female lead workers(n=Exp(0.029), p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that the increasing rate of ZPP in female were always higher than in male lead workers, suggesting that females were more susceptible to occupational lead exposure than males.
Cross-Sectional Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Zinc*

To investigate the effect of smoking and drinking habit on the health status in lead using industries, 2,785 male workers in lead using industries (7 storage battery industries, 7 secondary smelting and related industries, and 4 primary metal and other manufacturing industries) were selected for this study. This study was carried out as a part of periodic health examination. Selected study variables were zinc protoporphyrin in whole blood (ZPP), SGOT and SGPT for laboratory test. Questionnaire for lead related symptoms and smoking and drinking habit was provided to all the workers and filled up by themselves and reconfirmed by physician. The results obtained were as follows; 1. The overall smoking and drinking rate of study population were 69.8% and 73.6%, respectively. While the smoking and drinking rate of storage battery workers were 68.8% and 72.3%, those of secondary smelting industries and other industries were 66.0% and 66.4% and 74.6 and 80.3% respectively. 2. While the mean values of blood ZPP of lead exposed workers were significantly higher than other group, those of SGOT of storage battery workers were significant higher than other worker. But there were no differences of mean values of other variables. 3. Smoking habit did not affect on the mean value of blood ZPP of workers in special health examination group, but there were significant differences of blood ZPP and SGOT between drinker and non-drinker. 4. Symptom prevalence of lead exposure were higher in drinking and smoking group than non-drinking and non-smoking group. 5. In multiple regression analysis of the total lead related symptoms, blood ZPP, SGOT, and SGPT as dependent variable, respectively, and age, work duration, blood ZPP, pack year and amount of alcohol drinking as independent variables, work duration, pack year, amount of alcohol drinking, age contributed to total symptoms; and age, work duration, pack year contributed to blood ZPP; and age, amount of alcohol drinking, work duration contributed to SGOT; and pack year contributed to SGPT.
Alanine Transaminase ; Alcohol Drinking ; Aspartate Aminotransferases ; Drinking* ; Humans ; Male ; Osmeriformes ; Prevalence ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Smoke* ; Smoking* ; Zinc