BACKGROUND This article provides an overview of modern serological diagnostic testing for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) involving the detection of antibodies against citrullinated peptides/proteins (ACPA). Recommendations are also given for differential diagnosis and sequential testing in rheumatoid arthritis, with a view towards improving early diagnosis, so that irreparable joint damage can be av...

Chlamydia pneumoniae has been associated with atherosclerosis and several other chronic diseases, but reports from different laboratories are highly variable and "gold standards" are lacking, which has led to calls for more standardized approaches to diagnostic testing. Using leading researchers in the field, we reviewed the available approaches to serological testing, culture, DNA amplificatio...

BACKGROUND The aim of the evaluation was to investigate the relevance of the HCV-core antigen testing for the diagnosis and monitoring of HCV infections in the daily routine. Up to now, most of the serological diagnostics was performed as determination of antibodies while the determination of activity and the monitoring of antiviral therapy were checked by HCV RNA PCR. METHODS The routine req...

Toxoplasma gondii has frequently been named as one of the most important foodborne pathogens, in termsof its impact on human health. EFSA advised to include serological testing of pigs on T. gondii infections andaudits of pig farms on risk factors for T. gondii infection (EFSA, 2011). In order to generate knowledge about theepidemiology and prevalence of T. gondii infections in pig ...

Pulmonary manifestations of histoplasmosis were last reviewed in Seminars in 2004. This review highlights the management of the most common clinical syndromes, emphasizing recognition, diagnosis, and treatment. The reader is referred to the earlier review for subjects not fully addressed herein. Knowledge of the utility of serological testing is essential, particularly when antigen tests and cu...

During the 2009 outbreak of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza (pH1N1) in Australia, acute and convalescent serum specimens were collected from 33 patients with severe respiratory disease admitted to intensive care units. Using hemagglutination inhibition of pH1N1, 29 paired serum samples showed significant increases in specific antibody titers. Of these 29 patients, 18 had pH1N1 RNA detected by ro...

Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) is a newly identified gamma retrovirus and may be associated with prostate cancer- (PC) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Since its identification in 2006 and detection of polytropic murine lenkemia virus (MLV)-like sequences in CFS patients in 2010, several test methods including nucleic acid testing methods and serological assays have be...

Modelling The authors constructed a decision analytic model, using Data-Pro (Tree-Age Software, Inc.), to estimate the clinical and economic consequences of the two serological testing strategies versus no testing. Also, to evaluate up-front endoscopic biopsy in all patients, or the addition of biopsy in patients already undergoing EGD. The results of the model depended on the critical assumpti...

The drugs available for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) have evolved to provide shorter treatment duration and higher rates of sustained virologic response (SVR), and the role of HCV infection diagnostic tests has had to evolve in order to meet changing clinical needs. This review gives an overview on the role of HCV infection diagnostic testing (molecular and serological tools) used i...

background: brucellosis is one of the endemic and a zoonotic disease of the iran. science the rapid diagnosis and quick treatment are very important, selection of a sensitive and specific test solving this problem is of a great importance. the main aim of this study is comparison of routine serologic test with standard elisa test. materials and methods: in this survey, 176 suspected patients wi...