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BACKGROUND: Rapid diagnosis of drug-resistant TB is critical for early initiation of effective therapy. YD Diagnostics in South Korea recently developed the MolecuTech® REBA MTB-XMDR test to rapidly detect multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) and resistance to second-line injectable drugs (SLIDs) simultaneously using a fully automated test platform. This study aimed to evaluate the MolecuTech® test for the detection of MDR- and pre-XDR-TB, as well as SLID resistance.METHODS: A total of 151 clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from South Korea were tested using the MolecuTech test, and the results were analysed by comparing these with phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (pDST) and sequencing.RESULTS: Compared to pDST, the MolecuTech test showed a sensitivity and specificity of respectively 97.7% and 100.0% for rifampicin (RIF), 82.4% and 100.0% for isoniazid (INH), 97.5% and 97.2% for fluoroquinolones (FQs), and 94.0% and 98.8% for SLIDs. Concordances with the sequencing results of each resistance determinant were 99.3% for RIF, 96.7% for INH, 98.7% for FQs and 99.3% for SLIDs.CONCLUSION: The MolecuTech test is an efficient and reliable rapid molecular diagnostic tool for the simultaneous screening of MDR- and pre-XDR-TB.

Aims Transfusion long after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) may pose a significant risk but is not sufficiently understood. We investigated the long-term patterns and impact of transfusion on the clinical outcome of patients undergoing PCI. Methods and results Five-year clinical outcomes of all Korean undergoing PCI using stent in year 2011 (n=48786) were investigated. Primary outcome was the incidence density of transfusion. The association of transfusion with major adverse clinical event (MACE) consisting all-cause death, revascularization, critically ill cardiovascular status, or stroke was assessed after reflecting the propensity of each patient for transfusion and adjusting transfusion frequency and intervals. The 5-year incidence density of transfusion was 4.74 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 4.70–4.79) per 100 person-year. Patients who received transfusion were older, were more often women, and had overall higher frequency of clinical risk factors (p Year of transfusion and outcome Conclusions One out of every 4 Koreans undergoing PCI received transfusion within 5 years, and had 3-fold higher risk of MACE compared to patients without transfusion. These observational findings may warrant the establishment of transfusion strategies for patients undergoing PCI.

Bond strength of glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars with helically wound ribs was experimentally investigated in this study and compared to that of smooth glass fibre-reinforced polymer bars and steel bars. A total of 63 pullout specimens are tested. Variables of the tests involved four types of bars, namely, glass fibre-reinforced polymer bar with helically wound ribs, smooth glass fibre-reinforced polymer bar, ribbed steel bar and smooth steel bar, as well as different bonding agents, including normal concrete, high-performance concrete, grout and epoxy resin. Test results showed that bond failure of glass fibre-reinforced polymer bars with helically wound ribs is because of the shearing off of the ribs with small slips, and the ribs helically wound can improve the bond strength of glass fibre-reinforced polymer bars by 3∼14 times, which is around 13, 9·31 and 15·7 MPa in concrete, grout and epoxy resin, respectively. In addition, polypropylene fibres in high-performance concrete can imp...

A molecular map of rice consisting of 231 amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), 212 restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs), 86 simple-sequence length polymorphisms (SSLPs), five isozyme loci, and two morphological mutant loci [phenol staining of grain (Ph), semi-dwarf habit (sd-1)] has been constructed using an F11 recombinant inbred (RI) population. The mapping population consisted of 164 RI lines and was developed via single-seed descent from an intercross between the genetically divergent parents Milyang 23 (M) (tongil type) and Gihobyeo (G) ( japonica type). A subset of previously mapped RFLP and SSLP markers were used to construct the map framework. The AFLP markers were derived from ten EcoRI(+2) and MseI(+3) primer combinations. All marker types were well distributed throughout the 12 chromosomes. The integrated map covered 1814 cM, with an average interval size of 3.4 cM. The MG map is a cornerstone of the Korean Rice Genome Research Program (KRGRP) and is being continuously refined through the addition of partially sequenced cDNA markers derived from an immature-seed cDNA library developed in Korea, and microsatellite markers developed at Cornell. The population is also being used for quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis and as the basis for marker-assisted variety development.