No abstract available.
Internal Medicine*

BACKGROUND: ABO genotyping is commonly used in cases of an ABO discrepancy between cell typing and serum typing, as well as in forensic practice for personal identification and paternity testing. We evaluated ABO genotyping via multiplex allele-specific PCR (ASPCR) amplification using whole blood samples without DNA purification. METHODS: A four-reaction multiplex ASPCR genotyping assay was designed to detect specific nucleotide sequence differences between the six ABO alleles A101, A102, B101, O01, O02, and cis-AB01. The ABO genotypes of 127 randomly chosen samples were determined using the new multiplex ASPCR method. RESULTS: The genotypes of the 127 samples were found to be A101/A102 (n=1), A102/A102 (n=9), A101/O01 (n=3), A102/O01 (n=12), A102/O02 (n=14), B101/B101 (n=5), B101/O01 (n=18), B101/O02 (n=15), O01/O01 (n=14), O02/O02 (n=8), O01/O02 (n=14) and A102/B101 (n=14), from which phenotypes were calculated to be A (n=39), B (n=38), O (n=36) and AB (n=14). The multiplex ASPCR assay results were compared with the serologically determined blood group phenotypes and genotypes determined by DNA sequencing, and there were no discrepancies. CONCLUSIONS: This convenient multiplex ASPCR assay, performed using whole blood samples, provides a supplement to routine serological ABO typing and might also be useful in other genotyping applications.
ABO Blood-Group System/*genetics ; *Alleles ; DNA/blood ; Genotype ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/*methods

The primary lymphoma of the liver is a rare disease. We report a case of primary hepatic T-cell lymphoma associated with crescentic glomerulonephritis. The case, a 53-year-old male was presented with a 2-year history of hepatic mass and a 1-month history of foamy urine, rapidly progressive azotemia, and oliguria. The kidney biopsy revealed diffuse crescentic glomerulonephritis. The result of immunohistochemical study of liver biopsy specimen was consistent with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in T-cell lineage. Because renal function was deteriorated rapidly and there were signs of volume overload, hemodialyses were performed. Although the patient received 2 cycles of combination chemotherapy with CHOP(cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisolone, and doxorubicin), he did not respond and died of sepsis.
Azotemia ; Biopsy ; Drug Therapy, Combination ; Glomerulonephritis* ; Humans ; Kidney ; Liver ; Liver Neoplasms ; Lymphoma ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin ; Lymphoma, T-Cell* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Oliguria ; Prednisolone ; Rare Diseases ; Renal Dialysis ; Sepsis ; T-Lymphocytes* ; Vincristine

OBJECTIVES: Urine anion gap(UAG) and urine osmolal gap(UOG) were proposed as indirect measures of urine ammonium(NF4+). While the former is known to have its usefulness limited to hyperchloremic metabolic acidosis, the latter is reported to have its correlation with urine NE4+ in ketoacidosis. This study was undertaken to evaluate the correlation of urine NH with IJOG in high anion gap metabolic acidosis(AGMA) and to compare it with UAG. METHODS: We measured urine NH' by enzymatic determination, UOG(=0.5 X [urine osmolality-{2 X (Na++K+)+urea+glucose)]), and UAG(=Na++K+-Cl-) in 18 patients(serum AG=24.4+/-1.6mmol/L ) with AGMA. RESULTS: When they were grouped into those with acute disorders(n=11) and those with chronic disorder(n=7), urine Nk4+ concentration was higher (p<0.05) in the acute(35.6+/-7.7mmol/L) than in the chronic(3.8+/-0.9mmol/L) group. The UOG was higher (p<0.05) in the acute(73.2+/-18.9mmol/L) than in the chronic(6.3+/-8.7mmol/L) group, but the UAG had no difference between the two groups. When both groups of the patients were considered together, urine NH concentration correlated with the UOG (r=0.90, p<0.01), but not with the UAG. While the patients with lower urine NH4+ excretion(<30mmol/d) had the UOG<40mmol/L, those with higher urine NH' excretion(>40mmol/d) had the UOG>40mmol/L. CONCLUSION: In contrast to the UAG, the UOG has a significant correlation with urine NH4+ in AGMA.
Acid-Base Equilibrium* ; Acidosis* ; Ammonium Compounds* ; Humans ; Ketosis

Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain disorder caused by nervous system lesions as a direct consequence of a lesion or by disease of the portions of the nervous system that normally signal pain. The spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model in rats that reflect some components of clinical pain have played a crucial role in the understanding of neuropathic pain. To investigate the direct effects of gabapentin on differential gene expression in cultured dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells of SNL model rats, we performed a differential display reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis with random priming approach using annealing control primer. Genes encoding metallothionein 1a, transforming growth factor-beta1 and palmitoyl-protein thioesterase-2 were up-regulated in gabapentin-treated DRG cells of SNL model rats. The functional roles of these differentially expressed genes were previously suggested as neuroprotective genes. Further study of these genes is expected to reveal potential targets of gabapentin.
Animals ; Chronic Pain ; Diagnosis-Related Groups ; Ganglia, Spinal* ; Gene Expression ; Ligation ; Metallothionein ; Nervous System ; Neuralgia* ; Rats* ; Spinal Nerve Roots* ; Spinal Nerves