Expression and Purification of Recombinant Mayaro Virus Envelope Glycoproteins E1 and E2 to Develop a Mayaro Virus Detection System

Mayaro virus (MAYV) is a mosquito-transmitted alphavirus that produces an acute, usually non-fatal, febrile illness including Mayaro fever. Like other alphaviruses, the MAYV E1 and E2 envelope glycoproteins are major viral surface antigens that play a key role in host recognition and infection. Here, we report expression and purification methods for recombinant MAYV E1 (rE1) and rE2 using a baculovirus system. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) revealed that rE1 and rE2 were antigenic and reacted with human anti-MAYV IgG and IgM. Cross-reactivity was also confirmed with human anti-Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) IgG and IgM. Furthermore, we developed an immunochromatographic strip test (IST) with rE2 to diagnose MAYV infection. Thus, purified rE2 may be valuable tool for rapidly diagnosing MAYV infection.

Analysis of the Inquiry Types of the Pediatric Endocrinologic Diseases Counseled on the Internet / 대한소아내분비학회지

PURPOSE: On account of the civilization progress and popularization of the internet, we have researched the current public understandings of the pediatric endocrinologic diseases. METHODS: Analyzable 582 cases of 1,160 cases inquired by the online counsel board for the pediatric endocrinologic diseases from March of 2001 to January of 2004 were classified into four groups. RESULTS: There were 187 inquiries related to short stature. Most counsels were taken by their mothers. In the height distribution of them, under 3 percentile were 27 (21.4%). About precocious puberty, there were 82 for girls and 8 for boys of the total 110 inquiries. The number of children among 6-10 year old were 62. The main subject matter of inquiry accounted for the great majority as 67 cases was about breast budding. And there were 117 inquiries related to childhood diabetes. The number of children among 1-5 year old were 43 (49.4%). Lastly, there were 149 inquiries related to the thyroid diseases. The number of children under 1 year old were 55 (45.8%). CONCLUSION: Considering the most cases of the stature under 50 percentile on the current Korean growth curve begun since 1998, a present phase of quite competition of the stature was recognized. And it could be possible to say that the maternal factor for short stature seems more important than the paternal factor, because our data show that the short stature mothers of the short stature children is two folds more than the short stature fathers of them.