Treatment of eggshell with casein phosphopeptide reduces the severity of ovariectomy-induced bone loss / 한국실험동물학회지

It has been generally accepted that calcium intake prevents bone loss, and frequent fracture resulted from osteoporosis. However, it is still elusive as to how effective sole calcium intake is in preventing or attenuating the severity of osteoporosis. Here, we demonstrate the effects of eggshell-casein phosphopeptide (ES-CPP), and compared these effects those of calcium supplement, for restoring ovariectomy-mediated bone loss. CPP, synthesized from the hydrolysis of casein (0.5%) using trypsin, was added to the grinded ES and was then administered to the ovariectomized (OVX) rat at 100 mg/kg for 4 weeks. Urine and feces from each group were collected each day, and were used to calculate the apparent calcium absorption rate in a day. After 4 weeks incubation, blood and femoral bones were isolated for the analysis of parameters representing osteoporosis. The apparent calcium absorption rate was significantly increased in the ES-CPP treated groups, in comparison to both the OVX and the commercial calcium supplement (CCS) treated group. Notably, treatment with ES-CPP markedly enhanced the calcium content in femoral bone and the relative weight of femoral bone to body weight, though calcium content in serum was barely changed by treatment with ES-CPP. Parameters of osteoporosis, such as osteocalcin in serum and bone mineral density, were rescued by treatment with ES-CPP, compared to treatment with commercial calcium supplement. This finding strongly suggests the possible use of ES-CPP in preventing or attenuating the severity of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

The Current Status of HIV Serologic Testing in Korean Clinical Laboratories during the Year 2007 / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: HIV serologic testing is essential for blood donor screening, and the test results should be accurate. It is important that clinical laboratories perform quality control, quality management and standardization for obtaining accurate laboratory results. The Korean National Institute of Health, the Division of AIDS and the Center for Immunology and Pathology have all performed annual external quality surveillance assessment (EQS, EQA) with using a 5 sera panel for all the Korean HIV testing laboratories that have collaborated with the Quality Assurance Committee of the Korean Society of Laboratory Medicine since 2005. The results of HIV testing in the clinical laboratories during the year 2007 were analyzed. METHODS: The results for the clinical laboratories that participated in the HIV EQAS during 2007 were collected and analyzed. The HIV test results and questionnaire data were sent to the web site "http://hivqa.nih.go.kr". Three hundred thirty two results from 303 institutions in 2007 were analyzed. RESULTS: The most widely used HIV testing method was an automated chemiluminescent immunoassay, such as the Abbott AxSym and the Architect system or the Roche Elecsys. About 5% of erroneous results were reported among 332 results. The causes of error were mostly clerical errors and specimen errors. CONCLUSION: The current status for HIV testing in Korean clinical laboratories was that fully automated immunoassay analyzers were used along with manual POCT tests.

Study on Serologic Test for Syphilis as a Surrogate Marker for Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection among Korean Blood Donors / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: Serologic test for syphilis(STS) is an old traditional donor screening test for preventing transfusion-transmitted syphilis. By conducting STS, history taking for donors and refrigeration of blood, transfusion associated syphilis is very rare at present. This study evaluated the usefulness of the STS as a surrogate marker for preventing the transfusion of human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) via the transfusion of infectious window-period blood in Korean blood donors. METHODS: Demographic and laboratory information on blood donations made between January 1997 and December 1998 in 16 Korean Red Cross Blood Centers was analyzed. STS positive rate of 239 HIV-infected people and blood donors in 1999 were investigated. RESULTS: Of 4,808,297 donations over 2-year period, 3,956 (0.08%) were positive in STS and 40 (0.0008%) were anti-HIV confirmed positive. Of those, two were simultaneously positive for STS and anti-HIV. Among donations, Anti-HIV positive donations were 64 times more likely to be STS positive(odds ratio=63.9) and positive predictive value (PPV) of STS for anti-HIV was 0.05%. Fourteen of 239 HIV-infected people were STS positive. CONCLUSION: STS positivity was higher in anti-HIV positive donors, but the PPV of STS for anti-HIV was low. STS as a donor screening test is considered as a poor marker for preventing post-screening HIV infections and the usefulness of STS must be evaluated in its own value.

Clinical Usefulness of Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV)-1 p24 Antigen Testing / 대한수혈학회지

BACKGROUND: Recently some countries such as U.S.A. and Canada where human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) infection is rather prevalent, included HIV-1 p24 antigen test as a routine donor blood screening. This study was performed to evaluate the advantage of additional p24 antigen testing for the prevention of transfusion-associated AIDS infection in Korea. METHODS: Blood collected from 1726 volunteer blood donors, 16 HIV-positive patients, 39 sera from 4 commercial seroconversion panels, 15 sera included in low titer performance panel were tested with HIV-1 p24 Antigen ELISA Test System(Ortho Diagnostic Systems, U.S.A.). Anti-HIV antibody was also measured in parallel employing commercial kits produced by two world-famous companies. For some sera, western blot testing was additionally done. RESULTS: False-positive rate of p24 antigen testing was 0.06%. In 2 examples from 4 seroconversion panels, the p24 antigen test detected HIV infection 1-25 days and 11-47 days earlier than anti-HIV tests. CONCLUSION: Additional p24 antigen testing was found to have a potential to reduce transfusion-associated HIV infections. Including the p24 antigen testing as a routine donor screening should be considered if the number of transfusion-associated HIV infections continues to grow in Korea.