Antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) are associated with central nervous system demyelination inclusive of optic neuritis and transverse myelitis. MOG antibody may rarely be associated with peripheral nervous system involvement. A 48-year-old woman presented with demyelinating polyneuropathy. She previously suffered from myelitis and optic neuritis and had diagnosed with MOG antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). Polyneuropathies, combined central and inflammatory neuropathies may be associated with MOGAD and may be immunotherapy responsive. Further studies were needed to elucidate the utility of MOG antibody testing in polyneuropathy.

Antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) are associated with central nervous system demyelination inclusive of optic neuritis and transverse myelitis. MOG antibody may rarely be associated with peripheral nervous system involvement. A 48-year-old woman presented with demyelinating polyneuropathy. She previously suffered from myelitis and optic neuritis and had diagnosed with MOG antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). Polyneuropathies, combined central and inflammatory neuropathies may be associated with MOGAD and may be immunotherapy responsive. Further studies were needed to elucidate the utility of MOG antibody testing in polyneuropathy.

Antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) are associated with central nervous system demyelination inclusive of optic neuritis and transverse myelitis. MOG antibody may rarely be associated with peripheral nervous system involvement. A 48-year-old woman presented with demyelinating polyneuropathy. She previously suffered from myelitis and optic neuritis and had diagnosed with MOG antibody-associated disease (MOGAD). Polyneuropathies, combined central and inflammatory neuropathies may be associated with MOGAD and may be immunotherapy responsive. Further studies were needed to elucidate the utility of MOG antibody testing in polyneuropathy.

BACKGROUND: Enterovirus is a common cause of aseptic meningitis, respiratory disease and nonspecific febrile illness. The conventional methods for laboratory diagnosis of enterovirus infections have been virus culture and serotyping by an immunofluorecent test. We studied a new and more rapid approach for enterovirus detection in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) by real-time nested PCR. METHODS: This study was performed on 50 CSF specimens from patients suspected of aseptic meningitis. Enterovirus was detected in CSF by PCRs for 3 different targets and real-time nested PCR. Enterovirus culture was also performed in 44 CSF specimens. RESULTS: The positive rate of PCRs for each of the 3 different targets was 26.0%, 40.0%, or 46.0%, and that of real-time nested PCR was 86.0%. Only 6.8% were positive in culture. Thus, the positive rate of real-time nested PCR was much higher than other methods. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that the real-time nested PCR should be useful for diagnosis of enterovirus infections because of a high sensitivity and rapid detection.
Cerebrospinal Fluid* ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Diagnosis ; Enterovirus Infections ; Enterovirus* ; Humans ; Meningitis, Aseptic ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Reverse Transcription* ; Serotyping

BACKGROUND: Saliva is considered an important vector for the Helicobacter pylori infection. The presence of the babA2 gene, encoding for BabA (blood-group antigen binding adhesin), in the H. pylori genome is crucial for H. pylori-related pathogenesis. METHODS: The study was performed in the group of 215 patients. The detection of H. pylori and babA2 in saliva and gastric tissue was done by PCR (polymerase chain reaction). Moreover, gastric tissues were stained with hematoxylin-eosin as well as with modified Giemsa methods for the analysis of Helicobacter pylori density. RESULTS: The positive rate of H. pylori by nested PCR was 78.6% in gastric tissue and 72.7% in saliva. In addition, the positive rate of H. pylori was 55.5% by the histological analysis of Helicobacter pylori density in gastric tissue. The positive rate of babA2 by PCR was 33.9% in gastric tissue, and 8.2% in saliva. CONCLUSION: We revealed that the H. pylori PCR results obtained in gastric tissue correlated well with those obtained in saliva. As saliva is more available specimen, it is more suitable for clinical application of H. pylori detection by PCR. However, clinical use of - BabA PCR seems to be limited because of its low-sensitivity.
Genome ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Saliva*

BACKGROUND: RhC/c blood group antigens are of clinical importance and molecular genotyping for them can be useful when serological typing is difficult. A method to determine the RhC/c genotype, by targeting exon 1 nt48 and exon 2 nt307, has been used. However, this approach is not accurate for the RHc(cyt48) variant allele. We applied a more accurate genotyping method, using the intron 2 109 bp insert of the RHCE gene, and evaluated its performance in comparison with the standard method. METHODS: RhD and RhC/c serotypes of 236 subjects were determined. We compared two genotype results with the serological phenotype. One method examined the allele-specific exon 1 nt48 and exon 2 nt307 polymorphism area (Method 1), while the other method detected the intron 2 insert instead of the exon 1 nt48 (Method 2) by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP). RESULTS: The predicted phenotypes by Method 1 were not matched with the true phenotypes in 24 cases (24/236, 10.2%). By contrast, the predicted results by Method 2 matched with true phenotypes in all cases except one. The RHc(cyt48) variant was suspected in 22 cases (23.7%) of the 93 Rhc cases. CONCLUSION: For the determination of the RhC/c genotype in Koreans, the method that analyzes exon 1 nt48 is inaccurate. Instead, intron 2 insert analysis with exon 2 nt307 by PCR-SSP appears to be a more accurate alternative.
Alleles ; Blood Group Antigens ; Exons ; Genotype ; Introns* ; Phenotype ; Polymerase Chain Reaction*

BACKGROUND: ABO genotyping is being widely used in the case of ABO discrepancies and in forensic medicine. We have designed a method using a multiplex single-base primer extension reaction that has allowed us to detect six single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sites in the ABO gene and to determine ABO genotypes. METHODS: Genomic DNA was isolated from the peripheral blood of 75 unrelated Korean subjects. Exon 6 containing nucleotides 261 and 297 and exon 7 containing nucleotides 703, 802, 803 and 1059 were amplified using two pairs of primers. Using the products as templates, a multiplex single-base primer extension reaction was performed with six typing primers of different lengths for the six SNP sites. These reactions were performed on a PTC-200 thermal cycler (MJ Research, Waltham, MA, USA) using the SNaPshot multiplex kit (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA), and the products were analyzed using an ABI 3130xl Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems). RESULTS: The ABO genotypes determined by this method (75/75) all matched the genotypes that were determined by the use of the polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific priming (PCR-SSP). We analyzed the peak pattern detected at each of the six SNP sites for each sample. For the smaller-sized primers, peaks were shifted to the right-side compared with the expected site and for the larger-sized primers peaks was close to the expected site. In addition, the coefficients of variation (CVs) of the smaller-sized primers were higher than the CVs of the larger-sized primers. CONCLUSIONS: We are able to detect six SNP sites in the ABO gene and to determine ABO genotypes using a multiplex single-base primer extension reaction.
DNA ; Exons ; Forensic Medicine ; Genotype ; Nucleotides ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide

PURPOSE: Primary epiploic appendagitis (PEA) is a rare cause of an acute abdomen. It can be clinically misdiagnosed as either diverticulitis or appendicitis on clinical examination because the clinical symptoms and signs of PEA are non-specific. The present study was performed to describe the clinical characteristics of PEA and to assess the differences between PEA and diverticulitis. METHODS: We reviewed the clinical records and radiologic findings of 31 consecutive patients with PEA and compared them with those of patients with diverticulitis without complications. RESULTS: In most cases, abdominal pain was localized to the right (13 cases, 41.9%) or left (13 cases, 41.9%) lower quadrants. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting were infrequent, and localized tenderness without peritoneal irritation was common. All patients were afebrile, and only 4 patients (12.9%) showed leukocytosis. In all cases except one, a pericolic fatty mass with a hyperattenuated ring was observed on computed tomography. Patients with left PEA were younger than those with diverticulitis (41.4 +/- 11.9 vs. 69.7 +/- 13.3, P < 0.001), and the mean body mass index was higher in patients with left PEA (26.4 +/- 2.9 vs. 22.6 +/- 3.4, P = 0.01). Whereas one patient (6.7%) with left PEA showed leukocytosis, the incidence of leukocytosis in patients with diverticulitis was 80% (8/10) (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In patients with an acute abdomen showing localized tenderness without associated symptoms or leukocytosis, a high index of suspicion for PEA is necessary. For correct diagnosis and proper management, it would useful for surgeons to be aware of the computed tomographic findings and the natural course of the disease.
Abdomen, Acute ; Abdominal Pain ; Appendicitis ; Body Mass Index ; Diverticulitis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Leukocytosis ; Nausea ; Peas ; Vomiting

BACKGROUND: For the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB), PCR is known to be sensitive, specific, and rapid compared to the conventional methods of acid-fast-bacilli (AFB) smear and culture. We evaluated a new approach for MTB detection using real-time PCR. METHODS: The specificity of real-time PCR was evaluated using 20 MTB isolates and 37 nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) isolates identified by AccuProbe Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex colony identification test (Gen-Probe Inc., USA) and Myco-ID (M&D, Korea). One hundred sputum specimens (50 AFB smear-positive and 50 negative specimens) were analyzed using real-time PCR and Amplicor Mycobacterium tuberculosis test (Roche, Germany). The results of real-time PCR positives (55 samples) and negatives (598 samples) were analyzed by AFB smear and culture. RESULTS: The real-time PCR assay accurately discriminated between MTB and NTM species. Realtime PCR and Amplicor test yielded the same results in 96.0% (96/100) of the sputum specimens tested. The sensitivity and specificity of real-time PCR based on AFB culture were 97.4% and 88.5%, respectively. Of the 55 real-time PCR positive specimens, 83.6% (46/55) were culture-positive, 30.9% (17/55) were smear-positive, 52.7% (29/55) were smear-negative and culture-positive, and 14.5% (8/55) were both smear and culture-negative. Among the 598 real-time PCR negative specimens, 60 were not tested for AFB smear or culture and 10 were contaminated. Of the remaining 528 specimens, 478 (90.5%) were both smear and culture-negative and 39 (7.4%) were culture-positive. CONCLUSIONS: For the detection of MTB, real-time PCR was sensitive and specific and comparable to conventional methods. It can be used for rapid identification of M. tuberculosis in clinical laboratories.
*Bacterial Typing Techniques ; Computer Systems ; Humans ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis/classification/genetics/*isolation & purification ; Polymerase Chain Reaction/*methods ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tuberculosis/*microbiology

Background: A healthcare system’s collapse due to a pandemic, such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), can expose healthcare workers (HCWs) to various mental health problems. This study aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the depression and anxiety of HCWs. Methods: A nationwide questionnaire-based survey was conducted on HCWs who worked in healthcare facilities and public health centers in Korea in December 2020. Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were used to measure depression and anxiety. To investigate factors associated with depression and anxiety, stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis was performed. Results: A total of 1,425 participating HCWs were included. The mean depression score (PHQ-9) of HCWs before and after COVID-19 increased from 2.37 to 5.39, and the mean anxiety score (GAD-7) increased from 1.41 to 3.41. The proportion of HCWs with moderate to severe depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) increased from 3.8% before COVID-19 to 19.5% after COVID-19, whereas that of HCWs with moderate to severe anxiety (GAD-7 ≥ 10) increased from 2.0% to 10.1%. In our study, insomnia, chronic fatigue symptoms and physical symptoms after COVID-19, anxiety score (GAD-7) after COVID-19, living alone, and exhaustion were positively correlated with depression. Furthermore, post-traumatic stress symptoms, stress score (Global Assessment of Recent Stress), depression score (PHQ-9) after COVID-19, and exhaustion were positively correlated with anxiety. Conclusion In Korea, during the COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs commonly suffered from mental health problems, including depression and anxiety. Regularly checking the physical and mental health problems of HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic is crucial, and social support and strategy are needed to reduce the heavy workload and psychological distress of HCWs.