Objective : Fibrin sealants have been used for hemostasis, sealant for cerebrospinal fluid leakage, and adhesive barrier in neurosurgery. Further, as its clinical use and role of an effective drug delivery vehicle have been proposed. This study was performed to measure antibacterial activity and continuous local antibiotic release from different concentrations of vancomycin-impregnated fibrin sealant in vitro. Methods : Antibacterial activity was investigated by disk diffusion test by measuring the diameter of the growth inhibition zone of bacteria (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, ATCC29213) from vancomycin-embedded fibrin sealant disc diluted at five different concentrations (C1-C5; 8.33, 4.167, 0.83, 0.083, and 0.0083 mg/disc, respectively). Continuous and conditioned release of vancomycin concentration (for 2 weeks and for 5 days, respectively) were also measured using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. To mimic the physiologic wound conditions with in vitro, conditioned vancomycin release in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) was measured and replaced PBS for five consecutive days, half a day or completely daily. Results : In the disk diffusion test, the mean diameters of bacterial inhibition zone were 2.54±0.07 cm, 2.61±0.12 cm, and 2.13±0.15 cm (C1, C2, and C3 respectively) but 1.67±0.06 cm and 1.23±0.15 cm in C4 and C5, respectively. Continuous elution test elicited the peak release of vancomycin from the fibrin sealant at 48 hours, with continued release until 2 weeks. However, conditioned vancomycin release decreased to half or more on day 2, however, the sustainable release was measured over the therapeutic dose (10-20 µg/mL) for 5 days and 4 days in assays of half and total exchange of PBS. Conclusion : This study suggests that fibrin sealant can provide an efficient vehicle for antibiotic drug release in a wide range of neurosurgical procedures and the safe and effective therapeutic dose will be at the concentration embedded of 4.167 mg/disc or more of vancomycin.

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Introduction. Genetic testing services for disease prediction, drug responses, and traits are commercially available by several companies in Korea. However, there has been no evaluation study for the accuracy and usefulness of these services. We aimed to compare two genetic testing services popular in Korea with 23andMe service in the United States. Materials and Methods. We compared the results of two persons (one man and one woman) serviced by Hellogene Platinum (Theragen Bio Institute), DNAGPS Optimus (DNAlink), and 23andMe service. Results. Among 3 services, there were differences in the estimation of relative risks for the same disease. For lung cancer, the range of relative risk was from 0.9 to 2.09. These differences were thought to be due to the differences of applied single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in each service for the calculation of risk. Also, the algorithm and population database would have influence on the estimation of relative disease risks. The concordance rate of SNP calls between DNAGPS Optimus and 23andMe services was 100% (30/30). Conclusions. Our study showed differences in disease risk estimations among three services, although they gave good concordance rate for SNP calls. We realized that the genetic services need further evaluation and standardization, especially in disease risk estimation algorithm.

ally [2]. Respiratory infections can be caused by any of the 26 respiratory viruses currently known [2, 3]. Several children with respiratory illnesses are diagnosed with viral co-infections with at least 5 concomitant respiratory virus species [3]. Conventional detection methods for respiratory virus infection include virus culture, antigen detection, and serology, which are time-consuming, labor-intensive, and with low sensitivity [4]. These methods yield an overall virus detection rate of <40% in children with lower respiratory illnesses (acute wheezing/asthma and pneumonia) [3]. Various nucleic acid-based amplification technologies have been used to detect respiratory viruses, such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), nucleic acid sequence-based ampli cation, transcription-mediated ampli cation, strand displacement ampli cation, loop-mediated isothermal ampli cation, rolling circle amplication, helicase-dependent ampli cation, and multiplex ligation