The ancient bone DNA analysis essentially requires PCR amplification of the targeting genes of study due to the limitation of the ancient bone sample and DNA amounts. In contrast to the fresh living human DNA, it is common to face failing in amplifying the poorly preserved ancient DNA after death. Therefore, the optimized PCR methods appropriate for ancient DNA are required. However, there is no report to date that a systemic investigation of enhanced PCR amplification methods suitable for ancient samples has been conducted Approximately 500~3,300-year-old Korean and Mongolian ancient bones that are resistant to PCR were selected and an extensive number of PCR conditions were systematically investigated for the comparison of PCR success rates. For the PCR analysis, a mitochondrial DNA fragment as a multicopy DNA and a M175 Y chromosome biallelic marker DNA fragment as a single copy DNA that is the marker of the prevalent Y haplogroup (haplogroup O) in Korea were targeted. The identity of the amplified products were confirmed by DNA sequencing. Through this study, we established the optimized PCR conditions for the highly successful amplification of ancient bone DNAs. This estabilished method allowed for the successful amplification of mitochondrial DNAs from all the ancient bone samples tested and the amplification by 50% success rates in the amplification of M175 Y chromosome biallelic marker DNA but with the highest success rates. These results demonstrate that the optimized PCR condition will be useful for the promising ancient DNA analysis in the fields of molecular genetic anthropological studies.
Coat Protein Complex I ; DNA ; DNA, Mitochondrial ; Humans ; Korea ; Mitochondria ; Molecular Biology ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Y Chromosome

Recent studies have shown that coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection increased risk of stroke. Significant differences have been identified between the general population and COVID-19 stroke patients. There are unusual patterns of stroke occurred in COVID-19 patient are reported. Pathophysiologic theories about the relationship of COVID-19 infection and stroke are being published. Herein we report a rare case of stroke in a young COVID-19 patient, considered to be the result of vasculitis, and vessel changes that might have been caused by vasospasm based on serial brain imaging follow-up data. And we interpret this case based on pathophysiological characteristics of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.

BACKGROUND: The aims of this study were to compare the suitability of repetitive-PCR genomic fingerprinting procedures to investigate genetic relatedness of the genus Vibrio and its applicability for the molecular identification of Vibrio vulnificus. METHODS: Forty-eight Vibrio strains were included for this study. REP-, ERIC-, BOX- and SERE-PCR were compared with 13 members of the genus Vibrio. RESULTS: REP-, BOX- and SERE-PCR showed V. vulnificus strains could not be separated well from other Vibrio species. However, approximately 320 bp of highly discriminatory specific fragments was recovered from V. vulnificus strains by ERIC-PCR. CONCLUSIONS: ERIC-PCR could be used as rapid classification and identification methods of V. vulnificus from other members of the genus Vibrio.
Classification* ; Dermatoglyphics* ; Vibrio vulnificus ; Vibrio*

Skull base chordomas are rare, malignant tumors arising from primitive notochord remnants of the axial skeleton and comprise approximately 25–35% of all chordoma cases. Nasal endoscopy in previous case reports has characterized nasopharyngeal chordomas as firm, semi-translucent masses protruding from the posterior nasopharyngeal wall with a pink, “meaty” appearance. However, the nasopharyngeal chordoma in the present case had a soft, cystic appearance, unlike the tumors previously described. Herein, an unusual case of an incidentally discovered nasopharyngeal chordoma is reported in a patient with papillary thyroid cancer; the discovered chordoma had a benign cystic appearance with no abnormal positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) uptake.
Chordoma ; Cranial Fossa, Posterior ; Electrons ; Endoscopy ; Humans ; Notochord ; Skeleton ; Skull Base ; Thyroid Gland ; Thyroid Neoplasms

The nonstructural protein 4 (NSP4) of rotavirus encoded by gene 10, plays an important role in rotavirus pathogenicity. In this study, NSP4 gene sequences of human rotaviruses circulating in Seoul, Korea between March 2004 and April 2005 were determined. The nucleotide sequence data indicated that the NSP4 genes of human rotavirus Korean isolates were 750 or 751 bases in length and encoded one open reading frame of 175 amino acids with two glycosylation sites. The NSP4 of Korean isolates exhibited amino acid sequence homologies between 59.4% and 98.9%. The NSP4 of CAU4 and CAU15 showed a high degree of amino acid sequence homologies with NSP4 genotype A viruses, but the NSP4 of CAU5, CAU6, CAU11, CAU14, CAU16 and CAU22 exhibited a high degree of amino acid sequence homologies with NSP4 genotype B viruses. Interestingly, CAU3 and CAU7 showed low degree of amino acid sequence homology with those of currently described NSP4 genotypes A to D and belonged a distinct lineage on the phylogenetic tree. These findings suggests that distinct NSP4 type was circulating among human rotavirus strains in the local community of Seoul and raising intriguing questions regarding possible explanations for new genotype.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Amino Acids ; Base Sequence ; Genetic Variation* ; Genotype ; Glycosylation ; Herpesvirus 1, Cercopithecine ; Humans* ; Korea ; Open Reading Frames ; Rotavirus* ; Seoul* ; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid ; Virulence

Granulocytic sarcoma, as known as chloroma, is a localized solid tumor consisting of immature myeloid cells. It is a infrequent extramedullary manifestation of acute or chronic leukemias and can often precede their bone marrow involvement. Spinal involvement of granulocytic sarcoma is very rare. A 17-year-old man presented with low back pain, gluteal pain and perianal numbness for 1 month. Lumbar spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was taken under impression of herniated lumbar intervertebral disc and showed an epidural mass at the lumbosacral spinal canal. Leukocytosis, thrombocytopenia and anemia were found on blood cell count. Excisional biopsy of mass was done and the histopathologic examination confirmed the diagnosis of granulocytic sarcoma. Subsequent bone marrow biopsy revealed myelodysplastic syndrome. He had received anti-leukemic chemotherapy and the size of lumbosacral mass was markedly decreased. As a granulocytic sarcoma of spinal column is uncommon, high index of suspicion is inevitable to diagnose it. Therefore it must be included as a differential diagnosis of spinal epidural mass.
Adolescent ; Anemia ; Biopsy ; Blood Cell Count ; Bone Marrow ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Hypesthesia ; Intervertebral Disc ; Leukemia ; Leukocytosis ; Low Back Pain ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; Myeloid Cells ; Sarcoma, Myeloid ; Spinal Canal ; Spine ; Thrombocytopenia

Mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS) is a genetic disorder caused by mutation in mitochondrial DNA. Patients with stroke-like episodes show restrictive lesions in diffusion weighted image, whereas magnetic resonance angiography images show both vasodilation or vasoconstriction. Vasodilation may lead to hyperperfusion and cerebral edema, which may worsen clinical outcome. Here, we report a 25-year-old male patient diagnosed as MELAS, who presented with stroke-like episodes and seizures and showed cerebral edema with vasodilation which was normalized after steroid treatment.

PURPOSE: Fitz-Hugh-Curtis syndrome (FHCS) is a perihepatitis associated with pelvic inflammatory disease. Due to difficulty in diagnosis of FHCS on initial evaluation, we developed a reliable scoring system for screening FHCS using clinical variables. METHODS: We reviewed the registries of women of childbearing age who presented with upper abdominal pain in an urban emergency department from April 2008 to October 2010. Using multivariate analysis, along with 95% confidence interval (CI), we identified the statistically significant predictor variables that affected the FHCS. Using the results, we developed the scoring system for FHCS. Performances of each score were evaluated using the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. RESULTS: A total of 361 eligible women of childbearing age were enrolled in our study. Fifty patients were diagnosed as FHCS. The significant factors for FHCS were as follows: pain onset for more than two days, history of abortion, unmarried woman, coitus within four weeks, migrating pain, absence of gastrointestinal symptoms, absence of urinary symptoms, and elevation of C-reactive protein. We assigned a score of 1 or 2 to each variable using the beta-coefficients. The ROC areas of the scoring system were 0.920. Patients were categorized as low (score 0~4), intermediate (score 5~7), and high (score 8~10) risk groups; 75.0% of high, 18.3% of intermediate, and 1.0% of the low risk group were diagnosed as FHCS. CONCLUSION: We developed a novel scoring system for screening FHCS of women of child-bearing-age who had presented with upper abdominal pain. Use of this scoring system will allow for easier screening for FHCS in women of child-bearing age.
Abdominal Pain ; C-Reactive Protein ; Chlamydia Infections ; Coitus ; Emergencies ; Female ; Hepatitis ; Humans ; Mass Screening ; Multivariate Analysis ; Pelvic Inflammatory Disease ; Peritonitis ; Registries ; ROC Curve ; Single Person

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the summating potential (SP)/action potential (AP) ratio of electrocochleography (ECoG) recorded from the position of SP peak. We compared the SP/AP ratios of negative polarity and positive polarity graphs from the same ECoG of each patient by assuming different the position of SP peak. In addition, we attempted to evaluate the utility of two different manners of recording the ECoG graph in the diagnosis of Meniere's disease. SUBJECTS AND METHOD: Retrospectively, we analyzed the results of ECoG in 67 patients with unilateral definite Meniere's disease. ECoG was analyzed in two different manners. From the AP peak, the SP peak was determined close when positioned in the negative polarity; on the other hand, SP peak was considered distant when positioned in the positive polarity. The SP/AP ratio was interpreted with reference to the base line value. The ratio of two different ECoG values from each patient of Meniere's disease was calculated. RESULTS: In the abnormal side, the negative polarity ECoG showed significantly greater value of SP/AP ratio (mean: 0.334±0.10) than the positive polarity ECoG (mean: 0.283±0.09) (p<0.001). In the normal side, the negative polarity ECoG, showed significantly greater value of SP/AP ratio (mean: 0.250±0.09) than the positive polarity ECoG (mean: 0.204±0.06), as well as in the abnormal cases (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The standard SP/AP ratio for the diagnosis of Meniere's disease can be variable according to the manner of determining the SP peak.
Action Potentials ; Audiometry, Evoked Response* ; Diagnosis ; Evoked Potentials ; Hand ; Humans ; Meniere Disease ; Methods ; Retrospective Studies