AIM To determine if the diuretic spironolactone cross reacts with 17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP) in an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kit used for the mass screening of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. METHODS Concentrations of 17OHP on a blood filter paper disc were measured using an ELISA kit (kit C-7: ENZAPLATE N-17alpha -OHP-7; Chiron, Tokyo, Japan). The cross reactivity of...

Regarding anti-infectious agents, no maximum residue limits are fixed for honey in the European legislation. Discussions are being conducted in order to set working limits at the European level; for example, for tetracyclines, 20 microg/kg was proposed. The Tetrasensor Honey test kit is a receptor-based assay using dipsticks for a rapid screening (30 min) of honey on the presence of tetracyclin...

BACKGROUND To evaluate the performance of a chemiluminescence detection kit for cardiac troponin T (cTnT). METHODS According to the "Guiding principles on performance analysis of diagnostic reagents in vitro" and the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) Guidelines, we assessed the detection limit, linear range, reportable range, accuracy, precision, cross reactivity, interferenc...

The full-length AML1-ETO (AE) fusion gene resulting from t(8;21)(q22;q22) in human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is not sufficient to induce leukemia in animals, suggesting that additional mutations are required for leukemogenesis. We and others have identified activating mutations of C-KIT in nearly half of patients with t(8;21) AML. To test the hypothesis that activating C-KIT mutations cooper...

BACKGROUND Accurate and reliable diagnosis of HIV plays a central role in any effective HIV intervention. We decided to evaluate 4 commercial HIV test kits to determine their reliability for use in developing countries. METHODS Serum samples obtained from clients accessing tertiary health services at the STI clinic, Jos University Teaching Hospital were used to evaluate Sdbioline, Diaspot, De...

The success of large-scale screening for Chlamydia trachomatis depends on the availability of noninvasive samples, low costs, and high-quality testing. To evaluate C. trachomatis testing with pregnant women, first-void urine specimens from 750 consecutive asymptomatic pregnant women from the Rotterdam area (The Netherlands) were collected. Initially, we investigated the performance of three dif...

A commercially marketed nitrite test kit (Stat-test) for the rapid detection of significant bacteriuria has been evaluated and found to have failed to detect 50% of all cases of significant bacteriuria and 46% of significant bacteriuria associated with nitrate-reducing organisms. The number of false positive results are negligible. The Stat-test, used in its present form, cannot be recommended ...