BACKGROUND: Before the introduction of the antinuclear antibody test (ANA), the lupus erythematosus (LE) cell test was a useful diagnostic test for systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) But, the ANA test has replaced the LE cell test in virtually all laboratories as the current routine test for SLE. However, because the LE cell test is still performed in some laboratories, the authors compared the LE cell test with the ANA test to reevaluate the LE cell test. METHODS: A total of 522 cases were evaluated from Aug. 1990 to Aug. 1994. In these cases, the LE cell test and the ANA test were performed simultaneously, and the results were compared. The authors defined the 'True LE Phenomenon' as only when the LE cell test results agreed with the anti-histone antibody pattern of the ANA test. RESULTS: Of the total 522 cases, 56 cases(10.7%) were SLE. The LE cell test was positive in 22 cases(39.3%) and the ANA test in 56 cases(100%). The LE cell test produced 6(27%) false positive cases and 3 (8.8%) false negative cases. Therefore, the sensitivity of the LE cell test that was verified by the ANA test was only 28.6%. On the other hand, the sensitivity of the ANA test was 100%. In 2 cases, the LE cell results were different in repetitive tests although the ANA results were the same. In 2 other cases, it was impossible to interprete the results of the LE cell test because of severe leukopenia. CONCLUSIONS: The authors concluded that the LE cell test showed markedly low sensitivity and a high false positive and false negative rates for SLE, and that the LE cell test was difficult to perform and interpret accurately due to numerous interfering factors. Therefore, for accurate diagnosis of SLE, the LE cell test must be replaced by more definitive and quantitative immunologic tests in all laboratories such as the ANA test.
Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Hand ; Immunologic Tests ; Leukopenia ; Neutrophils*

BACKGROUND: Before the introduction of the antinuclear antibody test (ANA), the lupus erythematosus (LE) cell test was a useful diagnostic test for systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) But, the ANA test has replaced the LE cell test in virtually all laboratories as the current routine test for SLE. However, because the LE cell test is still performed in some laboratories, the authors compared the LE cell test with the ANA test to reevaluate the LE cell test. METHODS: A total of 522 cases were evaluated from Aug. 1990 to Aug. 1994. In these cases, the LE cell test and the ANA test were performed simultaneously, and the results were compared. The authors defined the 'True LE Phenomenon' as only when the LE cell test results agreed with the anti-histone antibody pattern of the ANA test. RESULTS: Of the total 522 cases, 56 cases(10.7%) were SLE. The LE cell test was positive in 22 cases(39.3%) and the ANA test in 56 cases(100%). The LE cell test produced 6(27%) false positive cases and 3 (8.8%) false negative cases. Therefore, the sensitivity of the LE cell test that was verified by the ANA test was only 28.6%. On the other hand, the sensitivity of the ANA test was 100%. In 2 cases, the LE cell results were different in repetitive tests although the ANA results were the same. In 2 other cases, it was impossible to interprete the results of the LE cell test because of severe leukopenia. CONCLUSIONS: The authors concluded that the LE cell test showed markedly low sensitivity and a high false positive and false negative rates for SLE, and that the LE cell test was difficult to perform and interpret accurately due to numerous interfering factors. Therefore, for accurate diagnosis of SLE, the LE cell test must be replaced by more definitive and quantitative immunologic tests in all laboratories such as the ANA test.
Antibodies, Antinuclear ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Tests, Routine ; Hand ; Immunologic Tests ; Leukopenia ; Neutrophils*

BACKGROUND: The psychosocial factors to the musculoskeletal disease has been studied recently as well as environmental factors. Type A behavior pattern which is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease may have relation to musculoskeletal disease, and the authors studied the relations for these variables. METHODS: The studied subjects were 511 housewives sampled without intention at Taejon city and we excluded 76 persons who had experiences of trauma at neck, shoulder or back region during recent one year on the data analysis. The musculoskeletal symptoms and type A behavior pattern were quantified as the score and the Spearmans correlation coefficient was used to reveal the statistical significance for the relations. RESULTS: Type A behavior pattern had the relation to the symptoms of neck, sboulder, and back region. For the sociodemographic variables, the relations were significant for the group of younger age, lower socioeconomic level, and the group having full time job, lower body mass index. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that type A behavior pattern was the possible risk factor for musculoskeletal disease, but more studies will be necessary to confirm the influence of behavior pattern to musculoskeletal disease.
Body Mass Index ; Coronary Disease ; Daejeon ; Humans ; Intention ; Musculoskeletal Diseases ; Neck ; Psychology ; Risk Factors ; Shoulder ; Statistics as Topic

No abstract available.
Amniotic Fluid* ; Female ; Pregnancy*

OBJECTIVE: Antiperinuclear factor (APF)is regarded as a marker antibody with high sensitivity and specificity for rheumatoid arthritis (RA).However, the precise role of APF in the pathogenesis of RA has not yet been elucidated. Studying the isotype of APF may be a step in revealing the nature of this anti-body,but such studies have been rare,and none have been done in Korea.The present study is set out to identify the isotype of APF from sera of Korean patients with RA,and to determine whether certain isotypes are related to specific clinical aspects. METHODS: A total of 114 APF positive RA sera were tested against IgG,IgA and IgM separately by indirect immunofluorescence method,and the medical records were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: All 114 serum samples were positive for IgG-APF,100 positive for only IgG-APF (G group,87.7%),9 positive for IgG and IgA-APF (GA group, 7.9%),4 positive for IgG and IgM-APF (GM group,3.5%),and one sample was positive for IgG,IgA and IgM-APF (0.9%).The levels of rheumatoid factor (RF)and C-reactive protein (CRP)were different between the 3 groups (ANOVA test),and the RF and CRP of the GM group was higher than the other 2 groups (Bonferroni test). CONCLUSION: The APF identified in Korean patients with RA was always IgG-APF.IgM-APF may be used as a serological marker to assess disease activity in conjunction with CRP.The differences in the laboratory parameters between each isotype groups indicate the possibility of utilizing the isotype of APF to determine the disease activity or prognosis of RA.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; C-Reactive Protein ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulin M ; Medical Records ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Rheumatoid Factor ; Sensitivity and Specificity

BACKGROUND: The conventional anticardiolipin antibody (aCL)-ELISA test that has been widely used to diagnose antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) has drawbacks in that false-positive reactions can occur. There have been considerable controversy as to the exact nature of the epitopes to which antiphosholipid antibodies (a PL) are directed. Almost all investigators now agree that the actual antigen to which aPL derived from patient with APS is directed, is beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2GPI). Therefore, we thought that anti-beta2GPI antibodies (abeta2GPI) might be a more specific marker for APS, and attempted to evaluate the usefulness of abeta2GPI test. METHODS: ELISA tests for a CL-IgG and abeta2GPI-IgG were performed simultaneously using the sera from 70 patients with clinically suspected APS and 10 healthy volunteers. The results of abeta2GPI were compared with those of aCL and evaluated clinically by reviewing the medical records. RESULTS: The correlation coefficient between the two was 0.54 (p<0.005). Twelve of 70 patients were abeta2GPI-positive and they were also positive for aCL (mean 45GPL). Forty of 58 abeta2GPI- negative patients were aCL-positive, and many of them were diagnosed to have APS clinically. There was no case showing aCL-negative but abeta2GPI-positive result. CONCLUSIONS: According to our results, abeta2GPI test seems specific but too insensitive to differentiate APS by itself, so it has no additional diagnostic value superior to aCL test. We believe that a study which includes more cases and various test methods will be needed for the precise assessment of abeta2GPI test.
Antibodies ; Antibodies, Anticardiolipin ; Antiphospholipid Syndrome* ; beta 2-Glycoprotein I ; Diagnosis* ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Epitopes ; Healthy Volunteers ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Research Personnel

BACKGROUND: The transferrin receptor (TfR) is expressed on almost all cellular surfaces and is shedded into the blood to form the soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR). The sTfR has been known to be a good marker to reflect cellular iron status and to differentiate between iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and anemia of chronic disease (ACD) without the need for a bone marrow aspiration in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. So we aimed to evaluate the diagnostic availability of sTfR in patients with RA and degenerative joint disease (DJD). METHODS: Eighty-seven outpatients visiting the Department of Rheumatology at HYUH were studied and divided into anemic and non-anemic groups according to their Hb levels (female< 12 g/dL, male< 14 g/dL). The sTfR was measured by ELISA method (Quantikine IVDTM, R&D system). To differentiate whether the anemia was due to iron deficiency or other causes, we used the RBC parameters and a discriminant index which was calculated from serum iron, ferritin and TIBC instead of a bone marrow aspiration, an invasive procedure of which interpretation can be subjective. RESULTS: The median was higher (31.09 nM) than the normal reference values (9-28 nM) only in the anemic group of RA. The medians were within normal limit in all the other groups. sTfR levels were high in 15 of the 28 RA anemic patients which were composed of 10 patients with IDA, 4 with non-anemic RA and 1 with non-anemic RA & DJD. CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, sTfR was increased not only in IDA but also in ACD of RA patients and also in non-anemic patients, which showed that sTfR cannot be used to differentiate these two types of anemia by itself and the further tests are needed. We conclude that the expression of TfR in RA patients was dependent not only on iron deficiency but also on the disease itself.
Anemia ; Anemia, Iron-Deficiency ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid ; Bone Marrow ; Chronic Disease ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Ferritins ; Humans ; Iron ; Joint Diseases ; Outpatients ; Receptors, Transferrin* ; Reference Values ; Rheumatology ; Transferrin*

No abstract available.
Equidae* ; Female ; Fetal Blood* ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Outcome* ; Pregnancy* ; Ultrasonography*

BACKGROUND: We evaluated a rapid screening kit for the detection of hepatitis surface antigen (HBsAg) and antibody (anti-HBs) using an immunochromatographic method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We selected 499 serum specimens for the evaluation. Each specimen was tested by enzyme immunoassay (EIA; Cobas Core, Roche, Switzerland), reverse passive hemagglutination (RPHA; Serodia HBs, Asan, Korea) for HBsAg, passive hemagglutination (PHA; Serodia Anti-HBs, Asan, Korea) for anti-HBs, and with the Genedia HBsAg and Anti-HBs Rapid (Green Cross Corp., Korea) kits. Results of each assay were compared with those of the EIA. RESULTS: The sensitivities and specificities of the Genedia HBsAg Rapid kit were 98.0% and 100%, and those for the Genedia Anti-HBs Rapid kit were 95.3% and 98.0%, respectively. These were higher than those for RPHA (96.0% and 100%), and PHA (83.2% and 96.0%). Concordance rates between EIA and Genedia HBsAg Rapid, Genedia Anti-HBs Rapid, RPHA, and PHA were 98.8%, 96.4%, 97.6%, and 88.4%, respectively. Extending the incubation time from the recommended 30 minutes to 2 hours increased the sensitivities of the Genedia kits. CONCLUSION: The Genedia HBsAg and Anti-HBs Rapid kits are simple, sensitive, and inexpensive assays suitable for screening or use in emergency situations.
Antigens, Surface ; Chungcheongnam-do ; Emergencies ; Hemagglutination ; Hepatitis ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens* ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Mass Screening*

PURPOSE: To evaluate the post-operative functional reduction of the shoulder joint and the impacting factors to post-operative shoulder joint function in interlocking IM nailing treatment of humeral shaft fracture. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April 1999 to August 2004, 35 patients (35 cases) whom admitted to hospital for humeral shaft fracture and treated using interlocking intramedullary nail were followed up for more than 1 year. 1 year post-operative shoulder joint function were evaluated using American Shoulder Elbow Surgery Scale (ASES). Pre-operative shoulder joint pain, radiologically degenerative change and extent of nail protrusion were evaluated, and each factor was correlated with function of the shoulder joint. RESULTS: 33 cases out of 35 cases showed union and average union period was 12 weeks. Complications consisted of 2 cases of nonunion, 1 case of infection, 1 case of loosening of distal fixing screw, 1 case of radial nerve palsy and 1 case of axillary nerve palsy. Shoulder joint function 3 months after operation : mean ASES score 78.2, 12 months after operation : mean ASES score 89.6. Pre-operative shoulder joint pain and nail protrusion showed to be statistically related to shoulder joint function. CONCLUSION: If the operation leaves no protrusion of intramedullary nail, it can be concluded to be relatively safe and effective.
Elbow ; Fracture Fixation, Intramedullary* ; Humans ; Paralysis ; Radial Nerve ; Shoulder Joint ; Shoulder*