Can Reference Materials Prepared Following CLSI C37-A Be Utilized Without Commutability Assessment? Perspectives Based on Lipid Measurements.

Background: Ensuring reference material (RM) commutability is crucial for evaluating measurement traceability in order to standardize laboratory tests. However, commutability assessment is not routinely performed. We assessed whether RMs prepared following CLSI C37-A guidelines could be used without assessing commutability by evaluating their commutability for four lipid measurements using the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) and CLSI EP14 protocols.

Whole genome sequencing analysis of enteropathogenic from human and companion animals in Korea.

Importance: This study is essential for comprehending the zoonotic transmission, antimicrobial resistance, and genetic diversity of enteropathogenic (EPEC).

Objective: To improve our understanding of EPEC, this study focused on analyzing and comparing the genomic characteristics of EPEC isolates from humans and companion animals in Korea.

Methods: The whole genome of 26 EPEC isolates from patients with diarrhea and 20 EPEC isolates from companion animals in Korea were sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq X (Illumina, USA) and Oxford Nanopore MinION (Oxford Nanopore Technologies, UK) platforms.

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Patterns and Genetic Diversity of spp. Isolates from Patients with Diarrhea in South Korea.

This study aimed to characterize the latest antimicrobial resistance patterns and genetic diversity of spp. isolated from patients with acute diarrhea in Korea. In total, 371 clinical isolates (361 and 10 ) were collected from patients with diarrhea in 106 medical institutions of six provinces during the seasonal peak (April-September 2022) in South Korea.

SARS-CoV-2 Infectivity and Antibody Titer Reduction for 6 Months After Second Dose of BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccine in Health Care Workers: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Several studies reported that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 antibody levels change over 6 months in participants receiving the vaccination. From the enrolled 272 health care workers (HCWs), blood samples were obtained at 2, 16, and 24 weeks after the second vaccination dose. In the 267 noninfected HCWs, the neutralizing antibodies decreased by 23.

A case of Helicobacter cinaedi bacteremia in an asplenic patient.

Helicobacter cinaedi is an enterohepatic species. It can cause bacteremia, gastroenteritis, and cellulitis, particularly in immunocompromised individuals, such as those with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, malignancy, or alcoholism. There are no previous reports of H.

Detection of a UL97 gene mutation conferring ganciclovir resistance in human cytomegalovirus: prevalence of the D605E polymorphism in Korean immunocompromised patients.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of ganciclovir (GCV) resistance-conferring human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) UL97 gene mutations and UL97 polymorphisms in Korean immunocompromised patients. A partial sequence of the HCMV UL97 gene spanning codons 430 to 644 was amplified in 77 samples from 32 patients by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced directly. A cysteine-to-glycine mutation at codon 592 (C592G) conferring GCV resistance was detected in a 2-year-old girl after a 40-day GCV treatment, but overall, UL97 gene mutations associated with GCV resistance were rare in GCV-treated patients.

Comparison of sputum and nasopharyngeal swab specimens for molecular diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, and Legionella pneumophila.

Background: Differentiation of atypical pathogens is important for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). In this study, we compared sputum and nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) for use in detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP), Chlamydophila pneumoniae (CP), and Legionella pneumophila (LP), using Seeplex PneumoBacter ACE Detection Assay (PneumoBacter; Seegene).

Methods: Sputum and NPS specimens were collected from patients in 15 hospitals.

Nosocomial clustering of NDM-1-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae sequence type 340 strains in four patients at a South Korean tertiary care hospital.

In November 2010, NDM-1-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (NDMKP) was identified for the first time in South Korea from four patients with no history of traveling abroad who stayed for 21 to 205 days in a tertiary care hospital. All were sequence type (ST) 340 and had nearly identical XbaI pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns. The bla(NDM-1)-carrying plasmids were in the IncN group, with sizes ranging from 50 to 200 kb.

A case of bacteremia by Neisseria gonorrhoeae coincident with massive hemorrhage of esophageal varices.

A 42-yr-old man with hepatitis B virus associated liver cirrhosis was admitted to the emergency room because of multiple seizures, a history of chills and myalgia over the previous 2 weeks, and 3 days of melena. He was febrile with a temperature of 38.0°C.

Development and validation of an arterial blood gas analysis interpretation algorithm for application in clinical laboratory services.

Background: Arterial blood gas analysis (ABGA) is a useful test that estimates the acid-base status of patients. However, numerically reported test results make rapid interpretation difficult. To overcome this problem, we have developed an algorithm that automatically interprets ABGA results, and assessed the validity of this algorithm for applications in clinical laboratory services.

[Analytical performance evaluation of glucose monitoring system following ISO15197].

Background: We have evaluated the analytical performance of SureStep Flexx (Johnson and Johnson, USA) which can report the plasma equivalent glucose test results and be connected to the hospital information networks, following ISO15197 analytic procedure for glucometer for the first time.

Methods: Adopting the guidelines of ISO15197, we measured the precision of ten glucometers from their repeatability and intermediate precision, and determined the accuracies of the glucometer, comparing to those of GEM Premier 4000 (Instrumentation Laboratory, USA). In addition, the guidelines of CLSI EP9-A2 and EP6-A were applied to correlate between data of glucometer and those of laboratory reference method by TBA-200FR (Toshiba Medical Systems, Japan) and to examine its linearity of glucose concentrations measured by SureStep Flexx.

[Performance evaluation of affinity column mediated immunometric assay for tacrolimus].

Background: Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of tacrolimus is essential because of narrow therapeutic range and poor correlation of dose to blood concentration. Affinity Column Mediated Immunometric Assay (ACMIA) does not require a pretreatment steps in measurement of tacrolimus. In this study, we evaluated the performance of tacrolimus assay using ACMIA (Dimension RxL Max, Dade Behring).

[Performance evaluation of Abbott RealTime HBV Quantification Kit for HBV viral load by real-time PCR].

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA quantification is necessary for starting and monitoring of antiviral therapy in patients with chronic hepatitis B. This study was intended to assess the clinical performance of Abbott RealTime HBV Quantification kit (Abbott Laboratories, USA).

Methods: The performance was evaluated in terms of precision, linearity, detection sensitivity, cross-reactivity, and carry-over.