BACKGROUND: Plasmodium vivax circumsporozoite protein (CSP), merozoite surface protein (MSP) and Duffy binding protein (DBP) are functionally important conserved proteins and may have an important role in developing antigens. The aim of this study was to develop recombinant CSP, MSP, and DBP antigens, to evaluate their diagnostic usefulness, and to analyze the prevalence of seroreactivity against P. vivax in five different regions in Korea. METHODS: To construct recombinant CSP, MSP, and DBP antigens from P. vivax, DNA obtained from specimens previously diagnosed as P. vivax was used. To evaluate diagnostic usefulness of recombinant CSP, MSP, and DBP antigens from P. vivax, sera from 45 patients with P. vivax and 48 normal controls including 4 patients with Plasmodium falciparum were used. For the epidemiologic study, a total of 1, 014 serum samples obtained from five different regions in Korea were used. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the IgG antibody against the P. vivax recombinant CSP, MSP, DBP antigens and the antigens mixture of these proteins were 75.6%, 62.2%, 68.9%, and 97.8%, and the specificity were 92.1%, 84.2%, 81.6%, and 97.4%, respectively. The seropositivity against P. vivax recombinant antigens was highest in Cheolwon province. The IgG seropositivity against P. vivax recombinant CSP, MSP and DBP was 2.0%, 1.2%, and 1.5%, respectively. There were no significant differences in seroreactivity against P. vivax between each recombinant protein and each five different regions in Korea. CONCLUSIONS: Newly constructed recombinant CSP, MSP and DBP were useful in the detection of antibodies against the P. vivax antigen.
Antibodies ; Antibody Formation* ; Carrier Proteins* ; DNA ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Korea ; Merozoites* ; Plasmodium falciparum ; Plasmodium vivax* ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Seroepidemiologic Studies

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection has been known closely related with gastritis, duodenal ulcer and gastric cancer and is prevalent among Koreans. However, the infection route and the time are unclear, especially during perinatal period. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship of H. pylori IgG and IgM antibody prevalences and titers between maternal, neonatal, and cord blood. METHODS: We collected 45 simultaneous maternal, neonatal, and cord bloods and 150 single cord bloods during delivery. The specific H. pylori IgG and IgM antibody levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. RESULTS: The H. pylori IgG antibody-positive rate for maternal, neonatal, and cord bloods were equal as 35.6% (16/45). The H. pylori IgG antibody levels of neonatal and cord bloods were 52.7% and 70.7% of maternal blood level. The H. pylori IgG antibody levels between maternal and cord bloods (r2 = 0.9725, p<0.05), maternal and neonatal bloods (r2 = 0.8569, p<0.05), and neonatal and cord bloods (r2 = 0.9437, p<0.05) were well correlated. Only one case of maternal blood was H. pylori IgM antibody positive and it's antibody level was 52.3 U/mL. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we provided the sero-prevalence of H. pylori IgG and IgM antibodies and the relationship of antibody level of H. pylori IgG in maternal, neonatal and cord bloods. To elucidate the exact route and time of H. pylori infection, further studies including serial measurement of H. pylori IgG and IgM level in neonates will be needed.
Antibodies* ; Duodenal Ulcer ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fetal Blood* ; Gastritis ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G* ; Immunoglobulin M* ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea* ; Prevalence ; Seroepidemiologic Studies* ; Stomach Neoplasms

BACKGROUND: For the diagnosis of malaria, examination of blood smear slides by light microscopy is used as standard, and commercial kits detecting malarial antibodies and antigens are available, and molecular methods such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are used additionally. But, these diagnostic methods can be performed when clinicians request them, so problems of misdiagnosing the patients who are not suspected malaria may be occurred. METHODS: In 42 Korean patients with malaria, the author analyzed the characteristic signals of malaria using granularity (90 degrees depolarized) versus lobularity (90 degrees polarized) graph of Cell-Dyn 4000 (CD4000) automatic hematologic analyzer. And, the author examined the presence of malaria in 421 random samples by CD4000 and Giemsa stain. RESULTS: The usefulness of CD4000 in diagnosing malaria are as follows, 93.0% sensitivity, 99.3% specificity, 93.0% positive-predictive value, and 99.3% negative-predictive value. CONCLUSION: CD4000 automatic hematology analyzer has high diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing malaria. Because complete blood count (CBC) is the routine test for most patients, this method has advantage of time and cost effectiveness and can even detect malaria in unsuspected cases.
Antibodies ; Azure Stains ; Blood Cell Count ; Cost-Benefit Analysis ; Diagnosis* ; Hematology* ; Humans ; Malaria* ; Microscopy ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVES: he purpose of this study was to examine psychosocial factors related to burnout of social welfare officers working in Jeonnam Province.METHODS: A total of 395 social welfare officers (male 99, female 296) working in 22 areas of Jeollanam-do province, were subjects of this study. We examined socio-demographic factors, using a self-reporting questionnaire. Subjects were asked to complete the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey (MBI-GS), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSS), to assess psychosocial factors affecting to burnout of social welfare officers.RESULTS: Among 395 subjects, 221 (55.9%) reported recent experiences of burnout. There was no significant difference in age between two groups, divided by burnout. Sex (p < 0.001), rank (p=0.003), working period (p=0.034), depression (p < 0.001) revealed differences between the burnout group and control group. Scores of PSS (p < 0.001) were higher, while the scores of GSS (p < 0.001) were lower in the burnout group, than control group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that female (OR 2.840, 95%CI 1.466–5.504, p=0.002), depressive high-risk group (OR 6.824, 95%CI 2.893–16.096, p < 0.001) PSS (OR 1.247, 95%CI 1.153–1.349, p < 0.001) and GSS (OR 0.950, 95%CI 0.930–0.971, p < 0.001), were significantly associated with burnout.CONCLUSION: We found that some factors, were associated with experienced burnout in social welfare officers. Depressive symptoms were the strongest associative factor, for burnout in public servants in charge of social welfare. Sex, stress and self-efficacy also correlated with burnout, and especially self-efficacy was a protecting factor.
Depression ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Female ; Humans ; Jeollanam-do ; Logistic Models ; Psychology ; Social Welfare

BACKGROUND: Among human blood group antigens, the genes for Kell, Duffy, and Kidd antigens have been recently identified, and those can play an important role in unexpected acute and delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions or hemolytic disease of newborns. The determination of blood group polymorphism at the genomic level facilitates the resolution of clinical problems that cannot be addressed by hemagglutination. They are useful to determine antigen types for which currently available antibodies are weakly reactive, type patients who have been recently transfused, identify fetuses at risk for hemolytic disease of the newborn and to increase the reliability of repositories of antigen negative RBCs for transfusion. METHODS: Two hundred peripheral blood samples were collected from normal population. Primer sets were used with slight modification from Reid M.E, et al. Bsm I, Ban I, and Mnl I were used from digestion of 5 uL PCR products. 10 uL of each digested-PCR products were electrophoresed on agarose or polyacrylamide gel with ethidium bromide staining. Kell, Duffy, and Kidd phenotypes (serologic types) were compared with respective genotypes by PCR-RFLP. RESULTS: The concordance rate was 100%: between genotype and phenotype 0 case(0%) K, 187 cases(100%) k; 22 cases(11.4%) Fy(a+b+), 171 cases(88.1%) Fy(a+b-), 1 case(0.5%) Fy(a-b+), 0 case(0%) Fy(a-b-); 95 cases(50.8%) Jk(a+b+), 39 cases(20.9%) Jk(a+b-), 53 cases(28.3%) Jk(a-b+), 0 case(0%) Jk(a-b-). In this study, Fyb frequency was 11.9% and it was equal to that of Japan and China. We analyzed each digested PCR product from 200 patients; Kell(187 cases), Duffy(194 cases), and Kidd(187 cases). CONCLUSIONS: The PCR-RFLP method can be effectively used for the Kell, Duffy, and Kidd typing and is particularly useful in cases where serological typing method is difficult as in autoimmune hemolytic anemia or recently transfused red blood cells in their circulation. Also, it is useful in cases of hemolytic disease in newborns and hemolytic transfusion reaction.
Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune ; Antibodies ; Blood Group Antigens ; Blood Group Incompatibility ; China ; Digestion ; Erythroblastosis, Fetal ; Erythrocytes ; Ethidium ; Fetus ; Genotype ; Hemagglutination ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Japan ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Sepharose

BACKGROUND: The flowcytometric analysis of HLA-B27 gives more objective results and is performed more rapidly than traditional serologic methods. We have used a flowcytometric method using only anti-HLA-B27 monoclonal antibody, but it gave frequently borderline mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) results. The authors compared the method using anti-HLA-B27 antibody (HLA- ABC-m3, Serotec) with the Becton Dickinson (BD) method which uses different HLA-B27 antibody (GS145.2) with CD3 antibody. METHODS: The 59 patients that requested HLA-B27 testing were measured by two methods. In the former method, the mononuclear cells were stained with HLA-B27-FITC and the MFIs were determined in lymphocytes. In the BD method, the whole blood was directly stained with CD3-PE and HLA-B27-FITC. The MFIs were determined in the CD3+ cells, and compared with the MFI of the standard. For the cases showing discrepancy in the two methods or borderline values, the HLA-ABC typing was done. RESULTS: Of 21 showing discrepancy, 10 samples had undergone HLA typing. Among nine samples that were positive by the Serotec method but negative by the BD method, four samples were B7, one B40, one B54 and three B7 CREG negative. One that was negative by the Serotec method but positive by the BD method was confirmed as HLA-B27. CONCLUSIONS: The Serotec method showed significant overlap between the MFIs of HLA-B27 and non B27 samples that resulted in a relatively low efficiency compared with the BD method. The discrepant results of the two methods seem to be due to maily the specificity of the antibody used.
Fluorescence ; Histocompatibility Testing ; HLA-B27 Antigen* ; Humans ; Lymphocytes ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: The chemical modification of RBC surface antigen has many advantages for safe transfusion practice. We evaluated the change of antibody reactivity to RBC surface antigen before and after glutaraldehyde crosslinking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 10 mL of blood were collected from 20 volunteers and were treated by 2-3% glutaraldehyde at 4degrees C. After 30 minute incubation, Agglutinability of various RBC surface antigen (ABO, Rh-C, c, D, E, e) was measured by titration using anti-sera (Green Cross, Korea, Dade, USA), and compared the agglutinability changes before and after glutaraldehyde crosslinking. RESLUTS: The agglutinability of Rh surface antigens (D, C, c, E, e) was disappeared after glutaraldehyde crosslinking. However, ABO antigens (n=20) still showed strong agglutinability against antisera with some decreased. CONCLUSIONS: It would be useful to apply glutaraldehyde crossliked RBCs for rare blood group transfusion practice, if the safety problem were solved.
Antigens, Surface* ; Blood Substitutes ; Glutaral* ; Immune Sera ; Korea ; Volunteers

BACKGROUND: The Lewis and secretor gene determine the Lewis phenoytpe. Conventional Lewis blood grouping is difficult because of the presence of nongenuine Lewis negative individuals. Recently, the Lewis gene (FUT3), the secretor gene (FUT2), and several mutations that cause the Lewis negative and the nonsecretor phenotypes were identified. The purpose of this study was to compare Lewis phenotypes determined by commercially available three pairs of monoclonal antibodies with the Lewis and secretor genotypes. METHODS: RBCs for phenotyping and peripheral blood leukocytes for genotyping of FUT3 and FUT2 gene were obtained from 184 apparently healthy volunteers. Lewis phenotypes were determined on K3EDTA-stablized fresh blood samples using three pairs of commercially available monoclonal antibodies, one of which was the column agglutination method and the others were the tube agglutination methods. Lewis blood group genotyping was performed by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method to detect T59G, G428A, C357T, and A385T mutations. RESULTS: The frequencies of the Lewis blood group phenotype were Le(a+b-) 15.0%, Le(a-b+) 65.8%, Le(a-b-) 14.8%, and Le(a+b+) 4.3%, respectively. The Lewis blood group phenotypes determined by three pairs of monoclonal antibodies were 93.5%, 93.5% and 89.1% in accordance with the genotypes. The frequencies of Le, le, Se and se alleles were 64.4%, 35.6%, 48.6%, and 51.4% and we have newly detected 4 cases with only one A385T mutation. All of the Le(a+b+) phenotype cases have both C357T, and A385T homozygotic mutations. CONCLUSIONS: The PCR method may be effectively used for the genotyping of the FUT3 and FUT2 genes and offers an attractive alternative to Lewis phenotyping using hemagglutination method.
Agglutination ; Alleles ; Antibodies, Monoclonal ; Blood Grouping and Crossmatching ; Genotype* ; Healthy Volunteers ; Hemagglutination ; Leukocytes ; Phenotype* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has a heteroresistant nature, so methicillin resistance is influenced by various culture conditions, such as temperature, incubation time, and NaCl content in the medium. Mueller Hinton (MH) agar containing 2% NaCl and mannitol salt agar (MSA) with oxacillin disk were evaluated for the detection of methicillin resistance. METHODS: Disk diffusion test on plain Mueller- Hinton (MH) agar, 2% NaCl MH agar, and MSA with 1 microgram oxacillin disk was performed in 70 Stap hylococcus aureus isolates. Oxacillin MIC was determined by E-test. As a gold standard of methicillin resistance, mecA gene was amplified by PCR and detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. RESULTS: Plain MH agar could not detect heterogeneous resistance in 12 S. aureus isolates (18%), but 2% NaCl MH agar and MSA could correctly detect homogeneous and heterogeneous resistance. S. aureus isolates from stool have as much as 48% heterogeneous resistance, while those from non-stool specimen have 5%. CONCLUSION: 2% NaCl and MSA can be used reliably for accurate susceptibility testing of methicillin resistance in routine laboratory.
Agar* ; Diffusion ; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel ; Mannitol* ; Methicillin Resistance* ; Methicillin* ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Oxacillin ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Staphylococcus aureus* ; Staphylococcus*

Phlebectasia is an abnormal dilatation of an isolated vein and a rare venous anomaly and is usually asymptomatic. Clinically internal jugular phlebectasia is a self limited benign condition and usually no treatment is required after initial diagnosis. So suspection of this disease and appropriate diagnostic approaches are essential to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention. We present three cases of internal jugular phlebectasia of which diagnosis was made by neck sonography and CT.
Diagnosis ; Dilatation ; Neck ; Veins