Discordance between Tuberculin Skin Test and Interferon-gamma Release Assays for Diagnosis of Tuberculosis Infection in Korean Children

PURPOSE: There is a the great diagnostic challenge in pediatric tuberculosis especially in high burden setting. The purpose of this preliminary study is to evaluate the agreement between tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) including T-SPOT®-TB and QuantiFERON®-TB Gold (QFT-G) in Korean children. METHOD: This retrospective study included children and adolescents who visited to Asan Medical Center to evaluate tuberculosis infection using at least two assays of TST, T-SPOT.TB and QFT-G, from January 2014 to April 2015. RESULTS: A total of 20 patients were included, whose median age was 13.3 years (range, 3.8-18.1 years), and all of them had history of BCG vaccination. Eleven patients had underlying diseases including 7 patients with immunosuppressant medication. The concordance rate between T-SPOT.TB and QFT-G was 90%. However, the concordance rate between TST and T-SPOT.TB was 50%, and between TST and QFT-G was 42.9%. Specificity for the diagnosis of tuberculosis infection of T-SPOT.TB, QFT-G, and TST was 93.3%, 86.7%, and 58.3%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Although there was a discrepancy between TST and IGRA to diagnose tuberculosis, agreement between T-SPOT.TB and QFT-G was relatively high. Further prospective study to validate the clinical usefulness of each assay for immunologic evidence of tuberculosis infection in Korean children will be mandatory.

rhBMP-2 using biphasic calcium phosphate block as a carrier induces new bone formation in a rat subcutaneous tissue / 대한치주과학회지

PURPOSE: The carrier for the delivery of bone morphogenetic proteins(BMPs) should also serve as a scaffold for new bone growth. In addition, predictable bone formation in terms of the volume and shape should be guaranteed. This study evaluated the ectopic bone formation of recombinant human BMP-2(rhBMP-2) using a micro macroporous biphasic calcium phosphate (MBCP: mixture of betaTCP and HA) block as a carrier in a rat subcutaneous assay model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Subcutaneous pockets were created on the back of 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats. In the pockets, rhBMP-2/MBCP and MBCP alone were implanted. The blocks were evaluated by histological and histometric parameters after a healing interval of 2 weeks (each 10 rats; MBCP and rhBMP-2/MBCP) or 8 weeks (each 10 rats; MBCP and rhBMP-2/MBCP). RESULTS: The shape and volume of the block was maintained stable over the healing period. No histological bone forming activity was observed in the MBCP alone sites after 2 weeks and there was minimal new bone formation at 8 weeks. In the rhBMP-2/MBCP sites, new bone formation was evident in the macropores of the block. The new bone area at 8 weeks was greater than at 2 weeks. There was a further increase in the quantity of new bone with the more advanced stage of remodeling. CONCLUSIONS: A MBCP block could serve as a carrier system for predictable bone tissue engineering using rhBMPs.

Evaluation of the Effects of e-PTFE Membrane Exposure on the GTR in the Mandubular Furcation Involvement / 대한치주과학회지

In order to evaluate the effects of the early exposure of e-PTFE membrane on the periodontal regeneration, 21 cases of 21 patients diagnosed as the chronic adult periodontitis were evaluated. All were class II furcation involvement cases. The control group was composed of 7 cases treated only by the flap operation. 14 cases were treated by the e-PTFE membrane as the experimental group, the membranes of 7 cases were exposed more than 1mm during healing period, which were named as the experimental group I, and the others, experimental group II. Clinical parameters such as probing pocket depth, clinical attachment level, bone probing depth, and gingival recession were recorded before the treatment and 6 months after the treatment. The results were as follows. 1. Significant probing depth reductions were observed for all groups(p<0.05), but no group shows significantly greater reductions than another. 2. Significant clinical attachment gains were observed for the experimental group II(p<0.05), no significant gains were observed in the other groups. 3. Significant bone probing depth reductions were observed for the experimental group II(p<0.05), no significant reductions were observed in the other groups. 4. All but the experimental group II exhibited a significant increase in gingival recession(p<0.05). The result suggested that is case of the e-PTFE membrane is exposed, the result is similar to that of flap operation without membrane. Therefore selecting the proper treatment case, intricate surgical procedure and infection control are essential for minimizing the chance of membrane exposure and finally for the good treatment results.