ABSTRACT
The present study aimed to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes between pregnant women and non-pregnant women of childbearing age (20–49 years old) diagnosed with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Korea. This nationwide observational study included the information of COVID-19 patients collected by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency from January 2020 to April 2021. Among 5,647 COVID-19 patients, 2,444 (43.3%) were women of childbearing age and 19 were pregnant. None of the pregnant women died. However, 4 deaths occurred among non-pregnant women aged 20–49 years. None of the 19 pregnant women with COVID-19 were admitted to the intensive care unit: they were admitted to the general ward, and none of them required supplemental oxygen. In conclusion, none of the pregnant women with COVID-19 experienced severe infection or death, unlike non-pregnant women of childbearing age.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate ichroma™ IGRA-TB, a novel point-of-care platform for assaying IFN-γ release, and to compare it with QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) for identifying Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) infection. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We recruited 60 healthy subjects, and blood samples were obtained in QFT-GIT blood collection tubes. The blood collection tubes were incubated at 37℃, and culture supernatant was harvested after 18–24 hours. IFN-γ responses were assessed by the ichroma™ IGRA-TB cartridge and the QFT-GIT IFN-γ enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Three active TB patients were recruited as a positive control for M. tb infection. RESULTS: The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of the ichroma™ IGRA-TB test for differentiating between infected and non-infected individuals was 0.9706 (p < 0.001). Inconsistent positivity between the two tests was found in three participants who showed weak positive IFN-γ responses ( < 1.0 IU/mL) with QFT-GIT. However, the two tests had excellent agreement (95.2%, κ=0.91, p < 0.001), and a very strong positive correlation was observed between the IFN-γ values of both tests (r=0.91, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The diagnostic accuracy demonstrated in this study indicates that the ichroma™ IGRA-TB test could be used as a rapid diagnostic method for detecting latent TB infection. It may be particularly beneficial in resource-limited places that require cost-effective laboratory diagnostics.
Subject(s)
Humans , Diagnosis , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Feasibility Studies , Healthy Volunteers , Korea , Latent Tuberculosis , Methods , Mycobacterium tuberculosis , Point-of-Care Systems , ROC Curve , TuberculosisABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy on the survival, pattern of failure and complication for locally advanced rectal carcinoma MATERIALS AND METHODS: From October 1992 to September 1995, twenty eight patients with rectal carcinoma were treated by postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Radiation therapy was delivered with 6MV and 15MV linear accelerator, 180cGy fractions 5 day per week. Total radiation doses were 5040cGy in B2+3 and 5580cGy in C2+3. Within 4 weeks after radical surgery, 5-FU(400mg/m2/day) and Leucovorin(20mg/m2/day) were administered by intravenous injection for 4 days during the first and fifth week of radiation therapy. The median follow up was 19 months with a range 2 to 47 months. RESULTS: The 2 year overall survival and disease free survival rates were 78.6% and 70.8%, respectively. The 2 year overall survival was 93.0% in B2+3 and 76.2% in C2+3(p=0.11). The 2 year disease free survival was 79.4% in B2+3 and 69.2% in C2+3(p=0.13). The overall failure rate was 21.4%(6/28) including 10.7%(3/28) locoregional recurrence, 3.6%(1/28) distant metastasis and 7.1%(2/28) locoregional recurrence with distant metastasis. The overall locoregional recurrence rate was 17.9%(5/28). The 2 year locoregional recurrence rates were 13.3%(2/15) and 23.1%(3/13) for respectively for B2+3 and C2+3. The difference between the locoregional recurrence of B2+3 and C2+3 patients was not significant(p=0.07). Complications developed in 13 patients(46.4%), including 8 dermatitis, 7 loose stool, 6 leukopenia, 4 tenesmus, 2 diarrhea. In Univariate analysis, there was no statistically significant factor except for tumor grade in locoregional recurrence, disease free survival and overall survival rate(p=0.04, 0.05, 0.04). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy and chemotherapy is effective in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. Therefore these results need to be confirmed with a long term follow-up and larger number of patients with the further clinical trials including prospective controlled studies.