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Background: Several factors contribute to differences in Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype distribution. We investigated the serotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance of S. pneumoniae isolated between 2014 and 2016 in Korea., Methods: We collected a total of 1,855 S. pneumoniae isolates from 44 hospitals between May 2014 and May 2016, and analyzed the serotypes by sequential multiplex PCR. We investigated the distribution of each serotype by patient age, source of the clinical specimen, and antimicrobial resistance pattern., Results: The most common serotypes were 11A (10.1%), followed by 19A (8.8%), 3 (8.5%), 34 (8.1%), 23A (7.3%), and 35B (6.2%). The major invasive serotypes were 3 (12.6%), 19A (7.8%), 34 (7.8%), 10A (6.8%), and 11A (6.8%). Serotypes 10A, 15B, 19A, and 12F were more common in patients ≤5 years old, while serotype 3 was more common in patients ≥65 years old compared with the other age groups. The coverage rates of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV)7, PCV10, PCV13, and pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine 23 were 11.8%, 12.12%, 33.3%, and 53.6%, respectively. Of the 1,855 isolates, 857 (46.2%) were multi-drug resistant (MDR), with serotypes 11A and 19A predominant among the MDR strains. The resistance rates against penicillin, cefotaxime, and levofloxacin were 22.8%, 12.5%, and 9.4%, respectively., Conclusions: There were significant changes in the major S. pneumoniae serotypes in the community. Non-PCV13 serotypes increased in patients ≤5 years old following the introduction of national immunization programs with the 10- and 13-polyvalent vaccines., Competing Interests: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported., (© The Korean Society for Laboratory Medicine.)

Background: Establishment of trimester- and assay-specific reference intervals for every population is recommended. The aim of this study was to establish a trimester- and assay-specific reference interval for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) in Korean pregnant women., Methods: From April 2012 to December 2012, 531 pregnant women receiving prenatal care and 238 age-matched, non-pregnant women were enrolled in this study. After excluding patients with pregnancy-associated complications or thyroid-specific autoantibody, 465 pregnant and 206 non-pregnant women were included. Non-parametric analysis (2.5-97.5th percentile) was performed to determine the reference interval. Levels of TSH and FT4 were determined by electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (Elecsys thyroid tests, Roche Diagnostics, Germany)., Results: The TSH reference intervals were 0.01-4.10, 0.01-4.26, and 0.15-4.57 mIU/L for the first, second, and third trimester, respectively. From the first trimester to the third trimester, the median TSH levels showed a significantly increasing trend (P<0.0001). The FT4 reference intervals were 0.83-1.65, 0.71-1.22, and 0.65-1.13 ng/dL for the first, second, and third trimester, respectively, showing a significantly decreasing trend (P<0.0001)., Conclusions: Establishing trimester-specific reference intervals in pregnant women is essential for accurate assessment of thyroid function. Our population-specific and method-specific reference intervals will be useful for screening Korean pregnant women for thyroid disease.

Objectives: There is sparse data on apoB dyslipoproteinemia in Asian population. The purpose of this study was to assess apoB dyslipoproteinemia and to compare the LDL-C, non-HDL and apoB for risk assessment with percentile equivalent cut off in Korean population., Methods: With 1193 Korean adult subjects, the prevalence and characteristics of different types of dyslipoproteinemias were analyzed in each age and gender group. The percentile values of direct LDL-C, calculated LDL-C, non HDL-C, HDL-C, apoAI, apoB and apoB/apoAI ratio were estimated., Results: The prevalences of normoapoB-hyperTG, hyperapoB-normoTG and hyperapoB-hyperTG dyslipoproteinemia were 6.9, 8.9 and 10.9% in men and 3.7, 6.4 and 2.8% in women. The 40th percentile of direct LDL-C, calculated LDL-C, non-HDL-C and apo B were 108, 104.2, 126 and 85 mg/dl, respectively. The individual above optimal cut off was significantly underestimated with LDL-C than with non-HDL and apoB, in groups with adverse risk factors., Conclusions: This study firstly shows the prevalence of various types of dyslipoproteinemias in Asian population. The percentile values of Korean population were similar to those of NHANES. Integration of lipid markers is needed for making clinical decisions and further research involving various populations and methodologies should be performed., (Copyright © 2013 The Canadian Society of Clinical Chemists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The performance of recently developed vitamin D total assays (ADVIA Centaur and Elecsys) was compared to that of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and LIASON 25-OH Vitamin D total assays., Design and Methods: A total of 157 clinical samples and standard reference material (SRM) 972 were analyzed., Results: The correlations of LC-MS/MS with the three immunoassays were acceptable. However, compared to LC-MS/MS, LIAISON and ADVIA Centaur showed negative bias, and Elecsys showed positive bias. There was a lack of agreement among the four methods with only LC-MS/MS results close to the certified values of SRM 972. The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency (<50 nmol/L) was higher with ADVIA Centaur (51.6%) and LIAISON (52.2%) and lower with Elecsys (37.6%), compared with that of LC-MS/MS (44.6%)., Conclusion: The new, automated total vitamin D assays show acceptable correlation with LC-MS/MS, and could be used in routine laboratories. However, standardization of vitamin D assays and consideration of assay-specific decision limits should be addressed., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)