BACKGROUND: ABO blood grouping reagent verification is essential to ascertain safe blood transfusions. However, the research use of donated blood products has been hampered in Korea by the blood transfusion law and management policies. In this study, we developed cryopreserved red blood cell (RBC) panels utilizing the high glycerol method to verify the ABO and D blood grouping reagents. In addition, we evaluated the stability of ABO and D antigenicity. METHODS: Fresh blood was frozen by the high glycerol method, aliquoted and cryopreserved in 2 mL cryotubes. Twenty-four vials of bloods with types A (n=5), B (n=5), AB (n=4) and O (n=10) for ABO RBC panels, and eleven vials of blood types D positive (n=5), D negative (n=5) and D weak (n=1) for D RBC panels were established. Potency, avidity and specificity tests were carried out with four different commercial ABO and D blood grouping reagents. RESULTS: The potency of cryopreserved RBCs after thawing showed no statistical difference compared with pre-freezing RBCs. Avidity time measurements were 5 seconds in ABO blood and 20 seconds in D positive blood. Specificity test uniformly showed 100% specificity. When thawed RBCs were stored at 4degrees C for 7 days, the potency test measured at intervals of 2 days showed no variation. CONCLUSION: Cryopreserved RBC panels produced by the high glycerol method showed excellent results in stability test with reagents produced by manufacturers in Korea. Therefore, these panels can be utilized as a reliable method of verifying blood grouping reagents.
Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; Blood Transfusion ; Erythrocytes ; Glycerol ; Indicators and Reagents ; Jurisprudence ; Korea ; Sensitivity and Specificity

The purpose of this study was to provide baseline data for revising the recommended energy intake for Korean adults. We recruited 290 adults so as to determine their resting energy expenditure (REE) and energy intake. The REE was measured by indirect calorimetry. We also calculated the REE from prediction equations formulated by World Health Organization (WHO). The energy intake for two consecutive days was assessed using the 24 hour recall method. The body weight, lean body mass (LBM) and percentage body fat were measured using the INBODY 3.0 system. We compared the results of three age groups; 20 to 29 years, 30 to 49 years and 50 years or more. The average energy intake of each age group was below the 7th Korean Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA). The average energy intake was lower in the older age groups. However, no difference was observed among the age groups when the energy intake as a percentage of the Korean RDA was compared. Our measurement of the REE was higher than the REE calculated by the WHO's method. Correlation coefficients between the measured and the calculated values of REE for all age groups showed significant correlations (r = 0.475-0.672). As the ages of all the subjects increased, the REE/kg of body weight decreased. There were no significant differences in the REE / kg of the LBM between the different age groups; however, the REE/kg of the LBM was higher in the female group than in the male group. Negative correlations of the REE with the age (r = -0.242) and body fat ratio (r = -0.313) were observed; positive correlations of the REE with the BMI (r = 0.265), height (r = 0.570), weight (r = 0.562) and LBM (r = 0.586) were also found (p < 0.01).
Adipose Tissue ; Adult* ; Body Weight ; Calorimetry, Indirect* ; Energy Intake ; Energy Metabolism* ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Recommended Dietary Allowances ; World Health Organization

OBJECTIVES: To circumvent the limitations of the current golden standard method, colony-forming unit (CFU) assay, for viability of Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccines, we developed a new method to rapidly and accurately determine the potency of BCG vaccines. METHODS: Based on flow cytometry (FACS) and fluorescein diacetate (FDA) as the most appropriate fluorescent staining reagent, 17 lots of BCG vaccines for percutaneous administration and 5 lots of BCG vaccines for intradermal administration were analyzed in this study. The percentage of viable cells measured by flow cytometry along with the total number of organisms in BCG vaccines, as determined on a cell counter, was used to quantify the number of viable cells. RESULTS: Pearson correlation coefficients of FACS and CFU assays for percutaneous and intradermal BCG vaccines were 0.6962 and 0.7428, respectively, indicating a high correlation. The coefficient of variation value of the FACS assay was less than 7%, which was 11 times lower than that of the CFU assay. CONCLUSION: This study contributes to the evaluation of new potency test method for FACS-based determination of viable cells in BCG vaccines. Accordingly, quality control of BCG vaccines can be significantly improved.
Administration, Cutaneous ; BCG Vaccine ; Cell Count ; Flow Cytometry* ; Fluorescein ; Methods ; Mycobacterium bovis ; Quality Control ; Stem Cells ; Vaccine Potency ; Vaccines*

A study was performed to develop as a screening tool the Simple Evaluation Questionnaire for Screening the Overweight-type Dietary Pattern in 30 to 49 Year Old Adults. We used the data from the 30 to 49 year old subjects who participated in the three surveys - the health behavior survey, the dietary habit survey and the food intake survey - as the National Health and Nutrition Survey 1998. The 3,598 adults were classified into to two body fatness groups of normal (including underweight) and overweight (including obese) on the basis of their relative body weight (RBW). When comparing variables between the two groups, significant differences were found in gender, education, job, employment status, perceived health status, sadness / depression state, stress level, age, number of diseases, age when overweigh-tedness started, maximum body weight, sleep length, drinking pattern (yes / no), amount of alcoholic drinks, frequency of intoxication or drunkeness, amount of alcoholic drinks when drunk, intensity of exercise, frequency of exercise, exercise duration, skipped meals, small meals and drug supplements. In terms of food intake, there were significant differences in the daily food intake in terms of breakfast, dinner, daily kimchi and dairy products. In terms of mealtimes, we found differences in the amount of cooked rice at breakfast, kimchi at lunch, soup / kuk at dinner, fresh vegetables for snacks, fried foods for snacks between breakfast and lunch, and fruits / juices for snacks between lunch and dinner. After developing questions with indicators and analyzing the indicators by logistic regression analysis three times, we chose 10 questions for a simple evaluation of dietary patterns for the overweight-type category in order to give one point each. Among them we selected two questions to add one additional point and one question to add two additional points. The average scores of the overweight and normal groups, as shown by the developed questionnaire, were 5.97 +/-2.36 and 7.36 +/-2.21, respectively. A score of seven points was selected as the cut-off point. We examined the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value of the questionnaire to the results of 67%, 59% and 62%, respectively.
Adipose Tissue ; Adult* ; Alcoholics ; Body Weight ; Breakfast ; Dairy Products ; Depression ; Drinking ; Eating ; Education ; Employment ; Food Habits ; Fruit ; Health Behavior ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Lunch ; Mass Screening* ; Meals ; Middle Aged* ; Nutrition Surveys ; Overweight ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Snacks ; Vegetables ; Surveys and Questionnaires