Objective: This study evaluated the clinical effectiveness of Minds.NAVI, a depression screening kit combining psychometric measures and stress hormone biomarkers, in a prospective clinical trial. The objective was to assess its potential as a depression screening tool and investigate the associations between psychological assessments, salivary hormone staging, and depression severity. Methods: Thirty-five participants with major depressive disorder and 12 healthy controls (HCs) were included. The Minds.NAVI software, utilizing the PROtective and Vulnerable factors battEry Test (PROVE) and salivary cortisol/dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) analysis, was employed. The PROVE test is a comprehensive self-report questionnaire that assesses depressive symptoms, suicide risk, attachment style, adverse childhood experiences, mentalization capacity, and resilience. In addition, salivary cortisol and DHEA levels were measured to evaluate the functional stage of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis. Results: Minds.NAVI exhibited 100% sensitivity, 91.7% specificity, and 97.9% accuracy in distinguishing depression from HCs within an exploratory small group. Salivary stress hormone phases showed changes with depression stage (p=0.030), and the proportion of patients with “adrenal exhaustion stage” was higher in the moderate/severe depression group (p=0.038). Protective/vulnerable factors differed significantly between controls and depressed groups (p<0.001). Cortisol awakening response inversely correlated with depressive symptom severity (r=-0.31, p=0.034). Conclusion This study suggested possible clinical effectiveness of Minds.NAVI, a depression screening tool that integrates psychometric measures and stress hormone biomarkers. The findings support the potential association between depression, chronic stress, and HPA axis hyporesponsiveness.

Objectives: This study developed a battery test that allows a comprehensive evaluation of depressive symptoms and related protective-vulnerable factors to screen for depression and mental health and examined the reliability and validity of the test. Methods: PROtective and Vulnerable factors battEry test (PROVE) consisting of five sub-sections was developed: depressive symptomatology (PROVE-DS), suicide risk (PROVE-SR), and three protective-vulnerable factors, which were adult attachment type (PROVE-ATT), adverse childhood experience (PROVE-ACE), and mentalization capacity (PROVE-MC). Two hundred and thirteen subjects completed the PROVE test and other comparative scales, and the analysis was carried out based on the data. Results: The PROVE test showed good convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity as well as adequate internal consistency. In addition, five sub-sections of the PROVE test showed significant relevance to each other. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that the PROVE test is a reliable and valid test, which will be useful for the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of depression in various clinical settings.

Objectives: This study developed a battery test that allows a comprehensive evaluation of depressive symptoms and related protective-vulnerable factors to screen for depression and mental health and examined the reliability and validity of the test. Methods: PROtective and Vulnerable factors battEry test (PROVE) consisting of five sub-sections was developed: depressive symptomatology (PROVE-DS), suicide risk (PROVE-SR), and three protective-vulnerable factors, which were adult attachment type (PROVE-ATT), adverse childhood experience (PROVE-ACE), and mentalization capacity (PROVE-MC). Two hundred and thirteen subjects completed the PROVE test and other comparative scales, and the analysis was carried out based on the data. Results: The PROVE test showed good convergent, discriminant, and concurrent validity as well as adequate internal consistency. In addition, five sub-sections of the PROVE test showed significant relevance to each other. Conclusion The results of this study indicate that the PROVE test is a reliable and valid test, which will be useful for the prevention, evaluation, and treatment of depression in various clinical settings.

Background: The Sysmex DI-60 system (Sysmex, Japan) is an automated cell image analyzer. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the DI-60 system for the differential analysis of leukocytes. Methods: A total of 220 samples were analyzed in this study. The agreement between DI-60 pre-classification and manual verification by experts was determined. The correlation between the differential leukocyte counts obtained using the DI-60 system and those manually obtained in the peripheral blood smears were determined. Results: The pre-classification agreement of DI-60 was 91.0%. The correlation coefficients of normal five-part differentials were 0.9163 (segmented neutrophils), 0.9017 (lymphocytes), 0.8533 (monocytes), 0.8345 (eosinophils), and 0.3505 (basophils). The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and the efficiency of counting the abnormal cells, including blasts, promyelocytes, myelocytes, metamyelocytes, lymphocyte variants, and erythroblasts, were determined. The efficiency of the DI-60 system in counting the blasts, promyelocytes, myelocytes, metamyelocytes, lymphocyte variants, and erythroblasts was 99.5%, 100.0%, 95.9%, 96.5%, 98.6%, 100.0%, and 95.9%, respectively. Conclusions The pre-classification agreement of DI-60 was higher than that of previous studies. The correlation between the differential leukocyte counts obtained with the DI-60 system and those of manual counting was acceptable. The performance of DI-60 as a screening tool in clinical laboratories may be good; however, it is yet to replace manual slide review.

No abstract available.
Hemostasis*

BACKGROUND: Cumulative blood culture data provide clinicians with important information in the selection of empiric therapy for blood stream infections. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed blood culture data from a university hospital during the period from 2006 to 2015. Only the initial isolates of a given species for each patient were included. RESULTS: The number of blood cultures per 1,000 inpatient-days increased from 64 in 2006 to 117 in 2015. The ratio of significant pathogens to total isolates was 0.56-0.63. The most common organisms were Escherichia coli in 2006-2010 but changed to coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) in 2011. The proportion of Staphylococci aureus was decreased during the study period, but Klebsiella pneumoniae was increased. Enterococci were increased, especially E. faecium, which was more frequently isolated than E. faecalis in 2015. Pseudomonas aeruginosa was decreased during the study, but Acinetobacter baumannii was increased. The prevalence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) changed from 62.2% to 53.9%, while vancomycin-resistant E. faecium increased to 35.8%. Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae increased to 25% and 34%, respectively, in 2015. Starting in 2008, three E. coli and 11 K. pneumoniae isolates were carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), and three were carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE). The prevalence of imipenem-resistant A. baumannii rapidly increased during the study period. CONCLUSION: About 60% of all blood isolates were significant pathogens. The most common isolates changed from E. coli to CoNS in 2011. ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae, vancomycin-resistant E. faecium, and imipenem-resistant A. baumannii were increased during the study, while the proportion of MRSA tended to decrease slightly. Of the total isolates, 14 were CRE, and 3 were CPE.
Acinetobacter baumannii ; Bacteremia ; beta-Lactamases ; Enterobacteriaceae ; Escherichia coli ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae ; Methicillin Resistance ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Pneumonia ; Prevalence ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Retrospective Studies ; Rivers

No abstract available.
Brain Abscess* ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic* ; Nocardia*

No abstract available.
Aged, 80 and over ; DNA, Ribosomal/chemistry ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2/*complications/diagnosis ; Fatal Outcome ; Humans ; Male ; Mucormycosis/*complications/diagnosis/*microbiology ; Rhizopus/*isolation & purification ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Homology ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

No abstract available.
Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Benzamides/*therapeutic use ; Central Nervous System Neoplasms/*diagnosis ; Fusion Proteins, bcr-abl/genetics ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myelogenous, Chronic, BCR-ABL Positive/*drug therapy ; Leukocytes/metabolism/pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Piperazines/*therapeutic use ; Pyrimidines/*therapeutic use

No abstract available.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Blood Chemical Analysis/instrumentation ; Blood Platelets/*cytology/physiology ; Female ; Flow Cytometry/*instrumentation/standards ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platelet Count/*instrumentation/standards ; Reference Values ; Republic of Korea ; Young Adult