No abstract available.
Yersinia*

No abstract available.
Yersinia*

No abstract available.
Carboxylesterase* ; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute*

No abstract available.
Neoplasm Metastasis*

BACKGROUND: Tuberculous lymphadenitis is the commonest form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The laboratory diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis is based on the traditional method of the acid-fast stain and culture of discharge or lymph node. However, acid-fast stain lack sensitivity and specificity, and culture is time- consuming. Polymerase chain reaction is a rapid, sensitive and specific DNA amplification technique for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum, pleural fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, or others. We evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the polymerase chain reaction assay for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculous lymphadenitis. METHODS: This study included 50 patient with clinically suspected tuberculous lymphadenitis. We performed fine needle aspiration biopsies (FNAB) on head and neck lymph node. The DNA of the sample was purified by phenol/chloroform method. The nested PCR was performed with TB-CR kit (Bioneer, Korea), which an amplified an insertion sequence IS 6110 sequences. The PCR product was analyzed by agarose gel electrophoresis in the presence of ethidium bromide. RESULTS: Forty-five of the 50 clinically suspected specimens were PCR-positive, five specimens were negative. And one of the 10 negative specimens was positive. The sensitivity and specificity of the PCR was 90% and 90%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The polymerase chain reaction is a very sensitive and rapid method for rapid detection of M. tuberculosis in patients with tuberculous lymphadenitis.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Cerebrospinal Fluid ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Diagnosis* ; DNA ; Electrophoresis, Agar Gel ; Ethidium ; Head ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphadenitis ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis ; Neck ; Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Sputum ; Tuberculosis ; Tuberculosis, Lymph Node*

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori has been implicated in the pathogenesis of active chronic gastritis and peptic ulcer disease in man. Thus, diagnosis and treatment of H. pylori infection are now of growing importance in ulcer management. A variety of non-invasive and invasive methods have been described for the detection of H. pvlori, but all of these techniques have disadvantages such as time consuming or insensitivity. So we describe the polymerase chain reaction(PCR) assay for the sensitive and specific detection of H. pylori. METHODS: Gastric biopsy specimens were obtained from 247 patients undergoing endoscopic examinations at Hanyang University Hospital. One half of the specimen was processed for routine culture and the other half for PCR. Bacterial genomic DNA from gastric biopsies was extracted by Instagene. Two sets of primer pairs derived from the nucleotide sequence of the urease A gene of H. pylori were used. RESULT: H. pylori was cultured in 100(40%) cases and PCR assay detected 179 (72%) cases (P<0.05, Chi-square test). Culture and PCR-positive cases totaled 100, and there were 68 cases negative by both methods. There were 79 culture-negative and PCR-positive cases, but none was culture-positive and PCR-negative. The assay was sensitive for detecting as little as 0.1 pg of DNA (1 bacterial cell). The specificity of detection was confirmed by ensuring that the primers did not amplify DNA extract from other bacteria. CONCLUSION: The PCR is a rapid, accurate, and sensitive method for the detection of H. pylori.
Bacteria ; Base Sequence ; Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; DNA ; Gastritis ; Genes, vif ; Helicobacter pylori* ; Helicobacter* ; Humans ; Peptic Ulcer ; Polymerase Chain Reaction* ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Ulcer ; Urease

BACKGROUND: Extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae are main pathogens of bloodstream infection. We compared the epidemiology of ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae. METHODS: From January 2003 through March 2007, we retrospectively investigated the clinical characteristics and comorbidities of patients with bloodstream infection by ESBL-producing E. coli and K. pneumoniae. RESULTS: During the study period, 79 patients (54 with E. coli and 25 with K. pneumoniae) with blood cultures positive for ESBL-producing E. coli or K. pneumoniae were studied. When comparing the source of bloodstream infections, urinary tract infections (UTIs) were more commonly caused by E. coli (24% vs. 0; P=0.007), and respiratory tract and soft tissue infection (36% vs. 15%; P=0.04, 12% vs. 0; P=0.03, respectively) were more commonly associated with K. pneumoniae. Among hospital-acquired bloodstream infection, third-generation cephalosporin was more commonly used in patients with E. coli than patients with K. pneumoniae (81% vs. 24%, P<0.001). Medical devices (central venous catheter and urinary catheter) were more commonly used in patients with K. pneumoniae. CONCLUSION: ESBL-producing E. coli bloodstream infection is more common in urinary tract infections. ESBL-producing K. pneumoniae is more common in respiratory tract infections and in skin and soft tissue infections. In hospital-acquired infections, ESBL-producing E. coli bloodstream infection is more common in biliary tract infection. ESBL-producing E. coli was more commonly associated with prior frequent antibiotics use and K. pneumoniae was more commonly associated with use of medical devices.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; beta-Lactamases ; Biliary Tract ; Catheters ; Comorbidity ; Epidemiology* ; Escherichia coli* ; Humans ; Klebsiella pneumoniae* ; Pneumonia ; Respiratory System ; Respiratory Tract Infections ; Retrospective Studies ; Skin ; Soft Tissue Infections ; Urinary Tract Infections

BACKGROUND: Recently the clinical significance of several mycobacterial species has been increased and there is a growing need to identify mycobacteria to the species level. We evaluated multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assay for identification of mycobacterial isolates. METHODS: Reference strains of 6 species of mycobacteria and 88 clinical isolates were lysed by boiling method. The lysates were used for multiplex PCR reactions incorporating three pairs of PCR primers, which were expected to amplify fragments from the 65-kDa gene common to all mycobacteria, genes of M. tuberculosis complex and M. avium, respectively. The resultant amplicons were digested with the restric-tion enzymes PspEI and HaeIII. Multiplex PCR products and digested products were visualized by electrophoresis on agarose gels. RESULTS: Six reference strains yielded compatible results. Eighty-eight clinical isolates were identified as M. tuberculosis complex (81 strains), M. avium (2 strains), M. intracellulare (2 strains), M. fortuitum biovariant peregrinum (2 strains), and M. gordonae III (1 strain). CONCLUSION: Multiplex PCR-RFLP assay appears to be a reliable method for rapid identification of mycobacteria to species level.
Electrophoresis ; Gels ; Gordonia Bacterium ; Multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Mycobacterium* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length ; Sepharose ; Tuberculosis

BACKGROUND: D-dimer is a specific marker of secondary fibrinolysis. D-dimer assay is widely used in the diagnosis of disseminated intravascular coagulation, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and arterial thromboembolism. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assays have been validated as the reference method for plasma D-dimer measurement, but it took long time. We evaluated the analytical performance of new automated coagulation system, ACL TOP, for quantification of D-dimer. METHODS: The total plasma D-dimer concentrations were measured by Nycocard and ACL TOP. To test the linearity, a serial dilution samples were prepared and measured. Between run precision of the ACL TOP D-dimer assay was evaluated with HemosIL D-Dimer controls for 20days. The correlation was evaluated using 75 plasma samples from patients. ACL TOP was evaluated according to CLSI guidelines. RESULTS: ACL TOP showed good linearity (r=0.9996) and between run coefficient of variation was within 4.0%. Coefficient of correlation between Nycocard and ACL TOP was 0.798. Positive concordance rate of ACL TOP was 67%, and negative concordance rate of ACL TOP was 80%. CONCLUSIONS: Since the ACL TOP showed a satisfactory precision, linearity, and comparative high correlation with Nycocard, and is more convenient and automatic than the Nycocard, it should be potentially beneficial in the clinical laboratories.
Diagnosis ; Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation ; Fibrinolysis ; Humans ; Plasma ; Pulmonary Embolism ; Thromboembolism ; Venous Thrombosis

Neonatal listeriosis is not uncommon in Western developed countries, and has significant mortality and morbidity. However, its incidence in Asian countries is relatively low and it has rarely been reported in Korea. Once infected, Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) can have high mortality and listeriosis in pregnancy may present serious hazards to the fetus and the newborn as sepsis and death through direct infection of the placenta and chorioamnionitis. Because early detection of L. monocytogenes infection is difficult, only high index of suspicion toward this disease can hopefully prompt treatment of this life-threatening perinatal infection. We experienced a case of L. monocytogenes yielded in cultures of blood and amniotic fluid of the newborn and the mother who delivered at 25+1 weeks of gestation because of preterm labor that developed without any specific evidence of infection. We report this case with a brief review of the literature.
Amniotic Fluid ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Chorioamnionitis ; Developed Countries ; Female ; Fetus ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Listeria monocytogenes ; Listeriosis ; Mothers ; Obstetric Labor, Premature ; Placenta ; Pregnancy ; Sepsis