BACKGROUND: Topoisomerase II (topo II) is a major target of anthracyclines and epipodophyllotoxins for anticancer treatment. The expression of topo II is low in drug resistant cell lines. High levels of glutathione S-transferase (GST)pi have been associated with emergence of cell lines resistant to alkylating agents or adriamycin. METHODS: By immunostaining with paraffin embedded bone marrow tissues, the expression of topo II alpha and GSTpi was investigated in 51 patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and the relation of topo II alpha and GSTpi expression to treatment response in 29 patients with AML following induction chemotherapy was also evaluated. RESULTS: Topo II positive cells varied from less than 1% to 60% of leukemic cells and 20 (39.2%) were negative for topo II (positive cells<10%). Treatment response following chemotherapy was not related to topo II. 26 (51.0%) were positive for GSTpi. GSTpi expression was related to treatment resistance of the patients following chemotherapy. In the patients who showed both topo II alpha negative and GSTpi positive, the frequency of treatment resistance following chemotherapy was high. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that immunostaining of topo II alpha and GSTpi with the bone marrow paraffin sections of AML patients can be useful to predict the treatment response following chemotherapy and that further study including more patients with prospective study may substantiate topo II alpha and GSTpi as multidrug resistant markers.
Alkylating Agents ; Anthracyclines ; Bone Marrow ; Cell Line ; DNA Topoisomerases, Type II* ; Doxorubicin ; Drug Resistance, Multiple ; Drug Therapy ; Glutathione S-Transferase pi* ; Glutathione Transferase* ; Glutathione* ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Induction Chemotherapy ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute* ; Paraffin ; Podophyllotoxin

No abstract available.
Hepacivirus* ; Hepatitis C* ; Hepatitis* ; Humans

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Symptoms and their effects on functional status, as well as patient satisfaction, are important parameters in assessment of treatment results. We analyzed, using questionnaires, changes in allergic symptoms after immunotherapy and patients' satisfaction after immunotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Thirty six patients who received immunotherapy for perennial allergic rhinitis at least for one year were evaluated using questionnaires before and after immunotherapy. The questionnaires included the changes in allergic symptoms and satisfaction after immunotherapy. RESULTS: The majority of patients (83.3%) noted an improvement in general symptoms of allergic rhinitis within 1 year after beginning immunotherapy. However, only a half of patients felt satisfactory. The patients who received immunotherapy for longer duration showed tendency to feel symptom improvement in a greater degree than satisfaction. CONCLUSION: The various factors, such as treatment duration, cost, and needs or wants of patient as well as symptom improvement, should be considered to improve patient satisfaction regarding immunotherapy.
Humans ; Immunotherapy* ; Patient Satisfaction ; Personal Satisfaction ; Surveys and Questionnaires* ; Rhinitis*

Background and Objectives: Fibrin sealant (FS) is widely used to reduce postoperative bleeding. This analysis aimed to assess the efficacy of FS to reduce complications after rhinoplasty.Materials and Method We searched PubMed, Scopus, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and the Web of Science database for articles on FS and rhinoplasty from the inception of publication to December 29, 2021. Post-rhinoplasty complications, such as edema and ecchymosis, were recorded. The final meta-analysis was performed using three studies. Results: Two subgroups were created based on the FS usage after rhinoplasty. The FS effect on edema reduction was favorable on the postoperative day-1 (standardized mean difference [SMD]=-1.07 [-1.70; -0.45]). In addition, the FS effect on ecchymosis reduction was favorable on the postoperative day-1 postoperative (SMD=-1.33 [-2.15; -0.50]). Conclusion Our study shows that FS reduces the early complications of rhinoplasty.

BACKGROUND: Reticulated platelets (RP) are young platelets with a high mRNA that are newly produced from the bone marrow. Thiazole orange (TO) has been a RNA staining fluorescent dye for reticulocyte, and used for RP recently. The increased percentage of RP (RP%) reflects immaturity and hematopoietic activity of platelets, therefore it may be useful for the diagnosis of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). METHODS: To assess the usefulness of RP in diagnosing ITP, we compared with RP%s of 50 ITP patients, 35 thrombocytopenic patients due to impaired production and 87 heathly normal controls. Platelets were stained with TO dye, followed by flowcytometric analysis. Platelet associated IgG (PAIgG) was also measured with the same samples. The standard gate was used as a reference with the unstained sample from a normal subject and the RP% was expressed as the percentage of TO positive cells of platelets. RESULTS: The RP% of patients with ITP was significantly higher than those of thrombocytopenia due to impaired platelet production and healthy controls (24.4+/-14.3% vs 8.6+/-5.2% and 8.0+/-5.1%, respectively). There was negative correlation between the platelet count and RP%, and positive correlation between MPV and RP%. In diagnosing for ITP, the sensistivity and specificity of RP% were 81% and 92%, respectively, and more valuable than those of PAIgG test. Using RP% and PAIgG at the same time, the diagnostic efficiency for ITP was not improved. The RP% of an ITP patient was changed to correspond with the disease progression, and that of an AML patient following chemotherapy was increased to precede the rising of the platelet count. CONCLUSION: It suggest that the measurement of reticulated platelets is a very useful test for diagnosis of ITP, furthermore it can be used to estimate the thrombopoietic activity before bone marrow examination.
Blood Platelets ; Bone Marrow ; Bone Marrow Examination ; Citrus sinensis* ; Diagnosis ; Disease Progression ; Drug Therapy ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Platelet Count ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic* ; Reticulocytes ; RNA ; RNA, Messenger ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thrombocytopenia

BACKGROUND: PCR is a widely used method for rapid and accurate diagnosis of mycobacteriosis. The sensitivity and specificity of a real time PCR kit newly developed in Korea were evaluated for detecting mycobacteria in respiratory specimens. METHODS: One hundred twenty nine Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) culture positive respiratory specimens (82 AFB stain positive and 47 stain negative specimens) were used for evaluation of the sensitivity. Nine non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) culture positive specimens were also included. For evaluation of the specificity, 48 AFB stain and culture negative respiratory specimens from patients who were initially not fully excluded from mycobacterial diseases (specificity group 1) were used. Other 51 respiratory specimens from patients who were not suspected of mycobacterial diseases were also included (specificity group 2). Real time PCR was performed by using AdvanSure TB/NTM real time PCR Kit (LG Lifescience, Korea) and SLAN real time PCR detection system (LG Lifescience). The target genes of TB and NTM were IS6110 and rpoB, respectively. RESULTS: Among 129 TB culture positive specimens, 82 of 82 AFB stain positive specimens (100%) and 35 of 47 (74.5%) stain negative specimens revealed real time PCR positivity for TB, resulting in sensitivity of 90.7%. Five of nine NTM culture positive specimens resulted in real time PCR positivity for NTM (55.6%). Forty seven of 48 specimens (97.9%) and all 51 specimens (100%) of the specificity group 1 and 2, respectively, were real time PCR negative for TB and NTM. CONCLUSIONS: AdvanSure TB/NTM real time PCR Kit should be useful for detecting TB in respiratory specimens with high sensitivity and specificity.
DNA, Bacterial/analysis ; Humans ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis/genetics/growth & development/*isolation & purification ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/*methods ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Respiratory System/microbiology ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Specimen Handling ; Tuberculosis/*diagnosis

BACKGROUND: The frequencies and distributions of unexpected antibodies have been reported using two different criteria, based on either number of persons tested or number of tests performed. But there has been no study that compared the results of analyses based on these two different criteria using the same data set. METHODS: Unexpected antibody tests performed in a University Hospital during recent 6 yr (January 2002-December 2007) were retrospectively analyzed: 76,985 tests (59,503 persons) for screening and 875 tests (749 persons) for identification. Data were analyzed using two different criteria, based on 'persons tested' and 'tests performed'. Antibodies had been screened and identified using LISS/Coombs gel cards with DiaMed-ID system (DiaMed AG, Switzerland). RESULTS: Frequencies of unexpected antibodies based on 'persons tested' and 'tests performed' were 1.32% and 1.34%, respectively (P=0.88). For frequently detected as well as rarely detected antibodies, there were no significant differences in the frequencies based on two different criteria. However, for rarely detected antibodies (anti-Xg(a) and Anti-E & D), the frequencies based on 'tests performed' were higher than those based on 'persons tested', affecting a change in the order of frequencies of antibodies detected. CONCLUSIONS: As there were no significant differences in the frequencies of unexpected antibodies calculated using two different criteria, both criteria can be used together for the patient population in our hospital. However, two criteria should be compared to validate the results for other populations.
Blood Group Antigens/*immunology ; Data Interpretation, Statistical ; Humans ; Isoantibodies/blood/*immunology ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: The treatment using more potent antiviral agents for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been performed widely and a highly sensitive quantification method using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) that measures the HBV viral genome in sera is available. In this study, the HBV DNA level in each disease status including the inactive HBsAg carrier is evaluated. METHODS: Samples were obtained from 227 patients with chronic HBV infection that were grouped into chronic hepatitis (111), liver cirrhosis (71), and inactive HBsAg carrier (45). Quantification of HBV DNA was performed using the automated Cobas Amplicor HBV monitor test(TM). RESULTS: Among the chronic hepatitis B group (9.76 x 10(7) copies/mL), the liver cirrhosis group (4.88x10(5) copies/mL), and the inactive carrier group (3.18 x10(3)copies/mL), the medians of serum HBV DNA levels were significantly different from one group to another (P=0.000). Also, the median of HBV DNA levels in the patients with positive HBeAg (1.77 x10(8) copies/mL) was significantly higher than that of negative HBeAg (2.71 x 10(4) copies/mL) (P=0.000). In the patients with negative HBeAg, HBV DNA level in the inactive carrier group (Median 3.18 x 10(3) copies/mL) was significantly lower than that of the chronic hepatitis group (Median 2.2 x 10(5) copies/mL (P=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: The serum HBV DNA level varied among different disease groups, particularly according to HBeAg positivity. 40% of the chronic hepatitis group with negative HBeAg had HBV DNA levels below 10(5) copies/mL. Therefore, the quantitative analysis of HBV DNA using this sensitive and automated PCR method would be useful in detecting viral proliferation.
Antiviral Agents ; DNA* ; Genome, Viral ; Hepatitis B e Antigens ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; Hepatitis B virus* ; Hepatitis B, Chronic ; Hepatitis, Chronic ; Herpesvirus 1, Cercopithecine* ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Polymerase Chain Reaction*

Transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is a ubiquitously expressed enzyme that catalyzes crosslinking, polyamination or deamidation of glutamine residues in proteins. It has been reported that TG2 is involved in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases including celiac disease, pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis and sepsis. Recently, using a mouse model of bleomycin-induced lung fibrosis, we showed that TG2 is required to trigger inflammation via the induction of T helper type 17 (Th17) cell differentiation in response to tissue damage. However, the role of TG2 in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which is thought to be a Th17 cell-associated disease, has remained elusive. In this study, we investigated the role of TG2 in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis, the most widely used mouse model for IBD. Age- and sex-matched wild-type and TG2(−/−) mice were fed 2% DSS for 7 days or 3.5% DSS for 5 days in drinking water. An in situ TG activity assay revealed that DSS treatment activates TG2 in various colon cell types, including columnar absorptive cells and goblet cells. DSS-treated TG2(−/−) mice showed lower interleukin (IL)-6, but higher IL-17A and RORγt (retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor-γt) expression levels in the colon tissues than that in the wild-type mice. Moreover, TG2(−/−) mice showed higher mortality than the wild-type mice because of DSS treatment. Nevertheless, we found no significant differences in changes of body weight, colon length, morphology, immune cell infiltration and in vivo intestinal permeability between DSS-treated wild-type and TG2(−/−) mice. These results indicate that TG2-mediated Th17 cell differentiation is not required for the pathogenesis of DSS-induced acute colitis.
Animals ; Body Weight ; Celiac Disease ; Cell Differentiation ; Child ; Child, Orphaned ; Colitis* ; Colon ; Cystic Fibrosis ; Dextran Sulfate* ; Dextrans* ; Drinking Water ; Fibrosis ; Glutamine ; Goblet Cells ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Interleukin-17 ; Interleukins ; Lung ; Mice* ; Mortality ; Multiple Sclerosis ; Permeability ; Pulmonary Fibrosis ; Sepsis ; Th17 Cells

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen (Ag) levels are known to be well correlating with HCV RNA levels, and may be used as an alternative marker of HCV replication for monitoring the response to HCV treatment. However, the low sensitivity of HCV core Ag assay has been an obstacle for clinical use. In this study, recently developed ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay (Abbott Laboratories, USA) was evaluated for analytical performance and clinical usefulness. METHODS: A total of 109 sera from HCV infected patients including various genotypes of HCV (1b, 2, 2a/2c, 2b, and 3a) and 20 sera from healthy donors were used for evaluating the sensitivity, precision, and linearity of the HCV core Ag assay. The cross reactivity with HIV, hepatitis B virus and myeloma proteins (N=5, each) and correlation with HCV RNA PCR assay were also evaluated. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the HCV core Ag assay was 97.2% (106/109) and there were no false positive results and cross reactivity. The within-run, between-run and between-day CVs were 3.0%, 2.5% and 3.0%, respectively. The levels of HCV core antigen showed a good correlation with those of HCV RNA quantification (r=0.940). The HCV Ag assay showed an excellent linearity in the range from 0.63 to 17,114 fmol/L (r=0.999). CONCLUSIONS: The ARCHITECT HCV Ag assay was good in sensitivity, precision, and linearity and its results well correlated with HCV RNA levels. This assay could be used as a good marker of viral replication for monitoring the therapy response in chronically HCV infected patients.
Chemiluminescent Measurements/*methods ; Cross Reactions ; Genotype ; Hepacivirus/genetics/*immunology ; Hepatitis Antigens/*blood ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/*methods ; RNA, Viral/blood ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Viral Core Proteins/*blood