The present study was undertaken to investigate the morphological characteristics of trigeminal ganglion in Korean native goat (Capra hircus) by immunohistochemical methods. The calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), substance P (SP), galanin (GAL) and calretinin (CR) immunoreactivities by immunohistochemical method were observed in the neurons of trigeminal ganglion with populations of 43.75%, 26.01%, 4.98%, and 14.33%, respectively. In double immunohistochemical study, CGRP immunoreactivity was proven to be present in SP (93.93%) and GAL (100%) immunoreactive neurons. SP immunoreactivity was observed in CGRP (36.12%) and GAL (100%) immunore-active neurons. GAL immunoreactivity was colocalized with 8.14% of CGRP and 15.47% of SP immunoreactive neurons. However, CR immunoreactivity was not observed in CGRP, SP and GAL immunoreactive neurons. These findings exhibit that Korean native goat differs from other mammalian species in the distribution and localization of neurochemical substances in trigeminal ganglion, and suggest that these differences may be related with neuroanatomical characteristics.
Calbindin 2* ; Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide ; Galanin ; Goats* ; Immunohistochemistry ; Neurons ; Neurotransmitter Agents* ; Substance P ; Trigeminal Ganglion*

Osteoporosis is a major health problem worldwide, and is projected to increase exponentially due to the aging of the population. The absolute fracture risk in individual subjects is calculated by the use of algorithms which include bone mineral density (BMD), age, gender, history of prior fracture and other risk factors. This review describes the laboratory investigations into osteoporosis which include serum calcium, phosphate, creatinine, alkaline phosphatase and 25-hydroxyvitamin D and, additionally in men, testosterone. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) is measured in patients with abnormal serum calcium to determine its cause. Other laboratory investigations such as thyroid function testing, screening for multiple myeloma, and screening for Cushing's syndrome, are performed if indicated. Measurement of bone turnover markers (BTMs) is currently not included in algorithms for fracture risk calculations due to the lack of data. However, BTMs may be useful for monitoring osteoporosis treatment. Further studies of the reference BTMs serum carboxy terminal telopeptide of collagen type I (s-CTX) and serum procollagen type I N-terminal propeptide (s-PINP) in fracture risk prediction and in monitoring various treatments for osteoporosis may help expedite their inclusion in routine clinical practice.
Algorithms ; Biological Markers/*blood ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Collagen Type I/blood ; Fractures, Bone/prevention & control ; Humans ; Osteoporosis/*diagnosis ; Peptide Fragments/blood ; Peptides/blood ; Procollagen/blood

This erratum is being published to correct the errors in sequence of references and in insertion of wrong references on page 112.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged in December 2019 in Wuhan, China; it has since caused a pandemic, with more than 10,000 confirmed cases (> 800,000 tests) in Korea as of May 2020. Real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) is currently the most commonly used method for the diagnosis of COVID-19 worldwide. The Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine and Korea Centers for Disease Prevention and Control regularly update the guidelines for COVID-19 diagnosis. Emergency use authorization for some laboratory diagnostic kits has been granted, enabling the timely diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19, and the isolation of infected patients. Due to the collective efforts of the government, medical professionals, local authorities, and the public, Korea’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak has been accepted widely as a model. Here, we summarize the currently available laboratory tests for COVID-19 diagnosis. Although RT-PCR tests are used widely to confirm COVID-19, antibody tests could provide information about immune responses to the virus.

Primary adenocarcinoma of the seminal vesicle is an extremely rare tumor, and its prognosis has been known to be poor. Herein, we report an adenocarcinoma of the seminal vesicle. The patient was a 50-year-old man who complained of a two-month history of terminal hematuria and lower abdominal discomfort. A pelvic magnetic resonance imaging study. Indicated a seminal vesicle cyst with focal intraluminal growth. Right seminal vesiculectomy was performed. Grossly, the seminal vesicle revealed a markedly cystic change with focal, friable, intraluminal papillary growth. The intraluminal mass showed a noninvasive adenocarcinoma with a tubular and tubulopapillary pattern, accompanied by necrosis. Immunohistochemically, the tumor was positive for cytokeratin and carcinoembryonic antigen and negative for prostate specific antigen and prostatic acid phosphatase.
Acid Phosphatase ; Adenocarcinoma* ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; Hematuria ; Humans ; Keratins ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Prognosis ; Prostate-Specific Antigen ; Seminal Vesicles*

BACKGROUND: Measurement of HbA1c levels is widely used to diagnose diabetes mellitus and to evaluate and monitor plasma-glucose concentrations over 6-8 weeks. In this study, we evaluated the diagnostic performance of the newly developed latex immunoturbidimetric method by using Autolab HbA1c. METHODS: We analyzed and compared the diagnostic performance of Autolab HbA1c with that of Toshiba 200FR between April 2009 and July 2009. According to guidelines (EP5-A2, EP6-P, EP9-A2) of the clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI), we compared linearity, precision and correlation of Autolab HbA1c with those of G7 (Tosoh Corp., Kyoto, Japan) by using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. RESULTS: Data obtained using Autolab HbA1c showed good linearity in mixtures of samples with low (3.1%) and high (15.1%) levels of HbA1c (r2 = 0.9997). In the analysis of within-run precision of the samples with HbA1c levels of 5.1% and 12.1%, the SDs were 0.04 and 0.06 and covariances of these samples were 0.8% and 0.5%, respectively. In the Deming regression model, the regression equation was as follows: Autolab HbA1c = 1.0859xTosoh HPLC-0.6957. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, Autolab HbA1c method showed better performance characteristics than Tosoh G7 did. In reference review, there was no interference of variant hemoglobin. The data acquisition time of Autolab HbA1c was lower than that of Tosoh G7. The advantages of Autolab HbA1c are that it can be used as an autoanlyzer in routine chemical analysis, it does not require pre-analytical treatment, and the samples are automatically treated with distilled water for hemolysis.
Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Hemoglobins ; Hemolysis ; Latex ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Water

Ovary is one of the organs in which angiogenesis occurs during ovarian cycle. Angiogenesis is associated with angiogenic factor like acidic fibroblast growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor and transformation growth factor. Therefore, we performed this study to identify the distribution and mRNA expression of angiogenin, new potential angiogenic factor, in ovary of Korean native cattle by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Angiogenin immunoreactivity and mRNA expression were observed in endothelial cells, fibroblast and vascular smooth muscle cells. However, we could not observed angiogenin immunoreactivity and mRNA expression in primordial ovarian follicle. In follicular epithelial cells of primary ovarian follicle, weak angiogenin immunoreactivity and mRNA expression were observed. Follicular epithelial cells, theca interna and externa in secondary ovarian follicles, showed angiogenin immunoreactivity, while follicular epithelial cells did the weak mRNA expression. Angiogenin immunoreactivity and mRNA expression were observed in follicular epithlial cells, theca interna and oocyte in tertiary ovarian follicle. The corpus luteum showed strong immunoreactivity and mRNA expression but atretic follicle weak. However, these angiogenin immunoreactivity and mRNA expression became to be weaker during regression. These results suggest that angiogenin may play a role as not only an angiogenic factor but a growth factor in ovary.
Angiogenesis Inducing Agents ; Animals ; Cattle ; Corpus Luteum ; Endothelial Cells ; Epithelial Cells ; Female ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 1 ; Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 ; Fibroblasts ; Immunohistochemistry ; In Situ Hybridization ; Menstrual Cycle ; Muscle, Smooth, Vascular ; Oocytes ; Ovarian Follicle ; Ovary* ; RNA, Messenger* ; Theca Cells

No abstract available.
Immunoassay ; Prostate ; Prostate-Specific Antigen

Multinucleated giant cells of osteoclast-like appearance can be seen in a type of anaplastic carcinoma of thyroid and only a few case reports for fine needle aspiration cytologic findings are found in the literatures. Recently, we experienced a case of anaplastic carcinoma of thyroid with many osteoclast-like giant cells in a 72-year-old woman. The cytologic features and immunohistochemical results are described with special emphasis on differential diagnosis.
Aged ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle* ; Carcinoma* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Giant Cells* ; Humans ; Thyroid Gland*

BACKGROUND: It is known that the blood collection tube used can cause fluctuations in laboratory test results. We compared test results obtained when blood was collected in V-tube (AB Medical, Korea), BD Vacutainer Tubes (BD, USA), and Greiner Vacuette Tubes (Greiner, USA) in clinical chemistry and thyroid hormone assays. METHODS: One hundred volunteers from three hospitals were recruited and the peripheral blood samples were collected in each of the three serum separation tubes (SSTs). These samples were used for 28 routine clinical chemistry assays and three thyroid hormone assays. The results were analyzed by the Student paired t-test and the Bland-Altman plot. For stability tests, the initial results were compared with the day 1 (24±2 hours), day 3 (72±2 hours), and day 7 (168±2 hours) results, respectively. RESULTS: The difference in the test results obtained from the samples in each tube (V-Tube vs. BD-Tube, V-Tube vs. Greiner-Tube, and BD-Tube vs. Greiner-Tube) were satisfied with the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 allowable difference ranges. Except for four analytes (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, magnesium, potassium, and thyroid-stimulating hormone), all analytes were within the allowable critical difference range based on biological variability. The paired t-test revealed significant differences between the results of nine assays for samples in V-Tube vs. BD-Tube and seven assays for samples in V-Tube vs. Greiner-Tube, but each set of results showed good correlations. The test results on different days showed a significant difference in several assays, but they were within the allowable difference range. CONCLUSIONS: The assay results for blood samples collected in SST V-Tubes were comparable to those obtained when blood was collected in BD Tubes and Greiner Tubes, and the blood collected in V-Tubes also showed excellent results in the stability tests.
Chemistry ; Chemistry, Clinical* ; Cholesterol ; Humans ; Lipoproteins ; Magnesium ; Potassium ; Thyroid Gland* ; Vacuum* ; Volunteers