BACKGROUND: The associations between preterm labor or premature rupture of membrane (PROM) and urogenital infections of pregnant women are reported. Ureaplasma urealyticum and Mycoplasma hominis are well known as important pathogens of urogenital infections in pregnant women. In routine clinical laboratory, conventional culture for these microorganisms has not been made generally because of the requirements for strict growth condition. MYCOFAST(R) Evolution 2 is an easy and rapid liquid microculture method using metabolism of these microorganisms. Author investigated the relationship between U. urealyticum or M. hominis infections and preterm labor or PROM by MYCOFAST Evolution 2 and PCR. Also it was reviewed that the possibility of substitution of MYCOFAST Evolution 2 for conventional culture method by comparing with PCR methods. METHODS: This study was done on 91 pregnant women. They were composed of two groups; group I(n=48) had full-term delivery and group II(n=43) had preterm labor or PROM before the 37th week.Two cervical swabs were made each time. One was used for MYCOFAST(R) Evolution 2 and the other for PCR. RESULTS: The positivity of U. urealyticum was 39.6% in group Iand 58.1% in group IIby MYCOFAST Evolution 2 and 39.6% and 58.1% by PCR method, respectively. The positivity of M. hominis was 4.2% in group Iand 11.6% in group IIby MYCOFAST Evolution 2 and 4.2% and 7.0% by PCR method, respectively. The positivity of U. urealyticum and M. hominis in group IIwas higher than that in group Ibut was not significant statistically. The concordance rates between two methods were 86.8% for U. urealyticum and 97.8% for M. hominis. It showed good correlation between two methods (U. urealyticum, r=0.736; M. hominis, r=0.835). CONCLUSIONS: The infections of U. urealyticum and M. hominis were related to preterm labor or PROM. Considering vertical transmission to fetus or neonates resulting in perinatal morbidity or mortality, the detection of these microorganisms is important. MYCOFAST(R) Evolution 2 was an easy, rapid and reliable method substituting conventional culture method.
Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Membranes ; Metabolism ; Mortality ; Mycoplasma hominis* ; Mycoplasma* ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnant Women* ; Rupture ; Ureaplasma urealyticum* ; Ureaplasma*

BACKGROUND: We investigated the interactions between spontaneous apoptosis-induced neutrophils and autoantibodies with attention to the reactivities of each autoantibody against intracellular antigenssuch as the antinuclear antibody (ANA) and the anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) and the applicability as a conventional test for autoantibody detection. METHODS: The 127 serum samples from patients with autoimmune disease were mixed with whole blood from healthy donors and incubated for 20 hours. The bound antibody against substrate neutrophils was detected with anti-IgG-FITC by flow cytometry. The results of this anti-long incubated neutrophil antibody (ALINA) testing were compared with ANA, ANCA and clinical manifestations. RESULTS: The positivity rate was significantly higher in the 20 hour incubation than that of a 30 minute incubation (100% and 18%, respectively; P<0.000005). Agreement analyses between ANCA and ALINA (k=0.34) and between ANA and ALINA (k=0.39) were poor. In comparison, among the autoimmune diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus had a significantly higher ALINA positivity rate than did other diseases (P<0.000005). In patients with SLE, higher mean fluorescence intensity was significantly associated with the presence of lupus nephritis (11/12 cases vs. 2/10 cases, P<0.005). CONCLUSIONS: We detected antibodies against neutrophil antigens expressed by long incubation with patient sera. Those detected autoantibodies were significantly associated with SLE, especially lupus nephritis. Therefore, further studies are necessary to devise optimal protocols and to clarify specificities for detected autoantibodies or their target antigens.
Antibodies* ; Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic ; Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Autoantibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Flow Cytometry* ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Lupus Nephritis ; Neutrophils* ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: We investigated the interactions between spontaneous apoptosis-induced neutrophils and autoantibodies with attention to the reactivities of each autoantibody against intracellular antigenssuch as the antinuclear antibody (ANA) and the anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA) and the applicability as a conventional test for autoantibody detection. METHODS: The 127 serum samples from patients with autoimmune disease were mixed with whole blood from healthy donors and incubated for 20 hours. The bound antibody against substrate neutrophils was detected with anti-IgG-FITC by flow cytometry. The results of this anti-long incubated neutrophil antibody (ALINA) testing were compared with ANA, ANCA and clinical manifestations. RESULTS: The positivity rate was significantly higher in the 20 hour incubation than that of a 30 minute incubation (100% and 18%, respectively; P<0.000005). Agreement analyses between ANCA and ALINA (k=0.34) and between ANA and ALINA (k=0.39) were poor. In comparison, among the autoimmune diseases, systemic lupus erythematosus had a significantly higher ALINA positivity rate than did other diseases (P<0.000005). In patients with SLE, higher mean fluorescence intensity was significantly associated with the presence of lupus nephritis (11/12 cases vs. 2/10 cases, P<0.005). CONCLUSIONS: We detected antibodies against neutrophil antigens expressed by long incubation with patient sera. Those detected autoantibodies were significantly associated with SLE, especially lupus nephritis. Therefore, further studies are necessary to devise optimal protocols and to clarify specificities for detected autoantibodies or their target antigens.
Antibodies* ; Antibodies, Antineutrophil Cytoplasmic ; Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Autoantibodies ; Autoimmune Diseases ; Flow Cytometry* ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; Lupus Nephritis ; Neutrophils* ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: Analysis of reticulated platelets (RPs) is useful for discriminating the causes of thrombocytopenia and monitoring the thrombopoiesis. In the patients with severe thrombocytopenia, we evaluated the thrombopoiesis-discriminating ability of several indices applying forward scatter (FSC) and thiazole orange (TO) fluorescence in addition to the percentage of reticulated platelets (RPs%). METHODS: Forty cases with decreased thrombopoiesis, twenty cases with increased thrombopoiesis and twenty cases with liver cirrhosis were selected. By flow cytometry with two analytic methods, dependent on or independent of the staining of CD41-PE as a platelet marker, the primary parameters including RPs% were measured and the applied parameters were calculated from them. And we compared the diagnostic efficiency of each parameter and analyzed the purity of platelet light scatter gate. RESULTS: The purity of platelet light scatter gate was significantly lower in patients with severe thrombocytopenia than in healthy persons with normal platelet counts (P<10(-6)), so the use of CD41-PE for platelet gating improved the diagnostic efficiency of RPs%. Compared to the primary parameters, the applied parameters originated from RPs%, FSC and TO fluorescence improved diagnostic efficiency significantly (RPs%: 55%, RPs%xs delta MFI: 80%) between decreased and increased thrombopoiesis groups. CONCLUSIONS: In the patients with severe thrombocytopenia, the estimate of the thrombopoiesis by a flow cytometric analysis can be more predictable by using platelet markers and by considering the fluorescence intensity of TO together with the RPs%.
Blood Platelets ; Citrus sinensis ; Flow Cytometry ; Fluorescence ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Platelet Count ; Thrombocytopenia* ; Thrombopoiesis*

BACKGROUND: Silver has extensive and powerful antimicrobial activities and silver-containing materials have been widely used in many medical fields. Recently nanoparticulate silver was developed and it is superior to other types of silver in the antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity. There have been no data from Korea on its antimicrobial activity, and we evaluated the antimicrobial activity of NANOVER against common clinical isolates. METHODS: Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of NANOVER for clinical isolates were determined using the agar dilution method of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute. A total of 45 isolates were tested including 4 reference strains (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212), 5 strains of methicillin-resistant S.aureus (MRSA), 7 strains of methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA), 14 strains of E.coli,and 15 strains of P. aeruginosa. RESULTS: The MICs of S.aureus to NANOVER were under 12.5 microgram/mL regardless of the methicillin sensitivity or resistance. The other isolates showed the MICs under 12.5 to 6.25 microgram/mL. CONCLUSION: NANOVER has strong and extensive antimicrobial activities to common clinical isolates including those resistant to other antimicrobials.
Agar ; Enterococcus faecalis ; Escherichia coli ; Korea ; Methicillin ; Methicillin Resistance ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Nanoparticles* ; Pseudomonas aeruginosa ; Silver*

BACKGROUND: We intended to confirm a decline in neutrophil function with aging and to devise a simple neutrophil function test protocol for use in a clinical setting. Reversely, the reliability of this protocol was to be verified by detectability of a decline in neutrophil function with aging. METHODS: Whole blood samples from young (thirties, N=32) and old (sixties, N=32) healthy subjects were incubated with the 7-aminoactinomycin D stained Escherichia coli. The mixture was stained by dihydrorhodamine 123 as an oxidative probe. Two kinds of fluorescence were measured by flow cytometry. RESULTS: Phagocytosis was declined with aging as indicated by a decrease in the percentage (form 28.2+/-9.5% to 21.9+/-10.9%, P<0.05) and the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) ratio (from 1.67+/-0.27 to 1.51+/-0.27, P<0.05). Oxidative burst had a trend toward a decrease with aging, but the differences were not significant (percentage: from 35.3+/-13.2% to 32.1+/-14.1%, P=0.36; MFI ratio: from 5.26+/-3.23 to 5.08+/-3.55, P=0.84). CONCLUSIONS: The devised protocol in this study could detect a significant decline in neutrophil function with aging, and this protocol may be useful for the assessment of neutrophil function in a clinical setting.
Aging ; Escherichia coli ; Flow Cytometry ; Fluorescence ; Neutrophils* ; Phagocytosis ; Respiratory Burst

BACKGROUND: Unexpected antibody screening and identification tests are very important pre-transfusion tests for preventing transfusion reactions. Nowadays, the column agglutination test is widely used in Korea. The results of many studies that used this method showed the decreased frequency of nonsignificant cold antibodies and an increased frequency of warm antibodies when compared with other studies that used the tube test or the microplate test. This study was performed in order to determine the accurate frequency and distribution of unexpected alloantibody by using the column agglutination test. METHODS: We analyzed the results from 32,218 antibody screening tests with using LISS/Coombs cards and ID-DiaCell I and II for the transfusion candidates and patients with hemolytic anemia who were seen at Kyungpook National University Hospital during a recent eight-year period. RESULTS: According to the results of the antibody screening test, 188 samples (0.58%) out of all 32,218 samples, were shown to be positive. Unexpected alloantibodies were detected in 86 patients (0.27%) with using the antibody identification test. The antibodies that were detected most frequently were anti-E (29 samples), followed by anti-D (8 samples), anti-M (8 samples) and anti-c (7 samples). CONCLUSION: The frequency and distribution of unexpected antibodies at our hospital are similar with those obtained in other Korean studies. The detection rates of warm antibodies, including Rh antibodies, were high. The proportion of Rh antibodies in patients with a gestation history was significantly higher than that in the patients without a gestation history. This study shows once again that pregnancy affects the antibodies and this supports the relationship between pregnancy and antibody formation.
Agglutination Tests ; Anemia, Hemolytic ; Antibodies* ; Antibody Formation ; Blood Group Incompatibility ; Gyeongsangbuk-do* ; Humans ; Isoantibodies ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Pregnancy

Nosocomial opportunistic infections including fungal infections continue to increase with a longer survival of immunocompromised patients. Disseminated candidiasis is the most common nosocomial fungal infection and the frequency of isolation of non-Candida albicans organisms besides C.albicans is increasing as causative organisms. We detected numerous yeast cells incidentally in a peripheral blood smear of an infant with congenital heart disease who was treated with total parenteral nutrition and catheterization, and had a history of antibiotics use during a long hospitalization period. Pichia anomala was isolated from the blood and pleural effusion.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; Candidiasis ; Catheterization ; Catheters ; Fungi ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Hospitalization ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Infant ; Opportunistic Infections ; Parenteral Nutrition, Total ; Pichia* ; Pleural Effusion ; Yeasts

BACKGROUND: There is some evidence linking the infections with common organisms such as Chlamydophila pneumoniae, cytomegalovirus (CMV), Helicobacter pylori and HIV to myocardial infarction (MI). We had performed a serologic study to assess whether C.pneumoniae, CMV, H. pylori and HIV infections are associated with MI. METHODS: Serum samples were obtained from 54 cases of acute MI, 33 cases of old MI, and 60 normal controls. C-reactive protein (CRP) as an inflammation marker was measured and antibodies to C.pneumoniae, CMV, H.pylori and HIV were assayed by ELISA. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated against control group. RESULTS: CRP was significantly higher in the acute MI and old MI group. ORs of C.pneumoniae infection increased considerably in the acute MI (IgM 1.57, IgG 4.80) and old MI group (IgM 2.42, IgG 5.18). ORs of CMV infection were 3.30 in the acute MI and 5.12 in old MI group. ORs of H. pylori infection showed below 1 in the acute MI and old MI. Anti-HIV antibody showed all negative result in three groups, so OR could not be calculated. CONCLUSION: C.pneumoniae and CMV infections appear to be risk factors for MI.
Antibodies ; C-Reactive Protein ; Chlamydial Pneumonia* ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae* ; Chlamydophila* ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Cytomegalovirus* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; HIV Infections* ; HIV* ; Immunoglobulin G ; Inflammation ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Odds Ratio ; Risk Factors

BACKGROUND: Although there are growing evidences linking Chlamydophila pneumoniae infection to myocardial infarction, it remains controversial. The authors intended to assess whether C. pneumoniae infection is associated with myocardial infarction. METHODS: Sera and peripheral mononuclear cells (PMNCs) were collected from 54 cases of acute myocardial infarction (MI), 33 cases of old MI, and 60 normal controls. Anti-C.pneumoniae IgG and IgM antibodies were measured using a microimmunofluorescence (mIF) method, and C.pneumoniae DNA was detected using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS: Seropositivity of anti-C.pneumoniae IgM antibody by mIF was shown 5.0% in control group, 29.6% (OR=8.00) in the acute MI and 6.1% (OR=1.23) in old MI group. Seropositivity of anti C.pneumoniae IgG antibody were 60.0 % in control group, 92.6% (OR=8.33) in the acute MI and 87.9% (OR= 4.83) in old MI group. The antibody titers in the acute MI and old MI group tended to be higher compared to those in control group. No C.pneumoniae DNA was detected in any case by PCR. CONCLUSION: The seropositivity and antibody titers were significantly higher in the acute MI and old MI group than in control group, suggesting that C.pneumoniae infection may be a risk factor for myocardial infarction.
Antibodies ; Chlamydial Pneumonia* ; Chlamydophila pneumoniae* ; Chlamydophila* ; DNA ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Myocardial Infarction* ; Pneumonia ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Risk Factors