conclusions: considering the low rate of ceftriaxone resistance amongst isolated pneumcocci.in this study, only ceftriaxone treatment of adult patients with invasive pneumococcal infections (other than cns infections) is sufficient; but pediatric patients and patients with cns infections should be treated with ceftriaxone and vancomycin. apparently, diminution of vancomycin use can be resulted ...

background: toxoplasmosis is a zoonotic disease with widespread distribution throughout the world. it is caused by the pro­tozoan parasite toxoplasma gondii . as laboratory diagnosis of toxoplasmosis is not straightforward, this study was aimed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of conventional and unconventional methods of diagnosis based on the meas­urement of igm and igg for determin...

conclusions pivka-ii was as efficient as afp when used as a single marker for hcc screening and the combination of two biomarkers gave a better performance. results the sensitivity and specificity of pivka-ii were 74.6% and 67.8% at a cutoff of 40 mau/ml and 64.2% and 89.7% at a cutoff of 200 mau/ml. the sensitivity and specificity of afp were 76.7% and 65.0% at a cutoff of 20 ng/ml and 60.4% a...

Food defense requires the means to efficiently screen large volumes of food for microbial pathogens. Even rapid detection methods often require lengthy enrichment steps, making them impractical for this application. There is a great need for rapid, sensitive, specific, and inexpensive methods for extracting and concentrating microbial pathogens from food. In this study, an immuno-magnetic separ...

We evaluated four pregnancy tests (Biocept-G, Beta-CG, Preg/Stat, and HCG-Beta Screen), using sera from 59 nonpregnant subjects and 77 patients with serum human choriogonadotropin beta-subunit (beta-hCG) concentrations ranging from 4 to 100 000 int. units/L. The results obtained for each test were compared with the results predicted on the basis of the sample's beta-hCG concentration and the be...

BACKGROUND Helicobacter pylori cause chronic gastritis and subsequent diseases like gastric and duodenal ulcers and gastric adenocarcinoma. Current methods for detecting H. pylori have several disadvantages and it is of utmost importance to develop a simple, quick, accurate, and cost-effective diagnostic test. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to set up and evaluate a diagnostic value of l...

Intramammary infection (IMI), also known as mastitis, is the most frequently occurring and economically the most important infectious disease in dairy cattle. This study provides a validation of the analytical specificity and sensitivity of a real-time PCR-based assay that identifies 11 major pathogen species or species groups responsible for IMI, and a gene coding for staphylococcal beta-lacta...

Experimental analysis and manipulation of protein-DNA interactions pose unique biophysical challenges arising from the structural and chemical homogeneity of DNA polymers. We report the use of yeast surface display for analytical and selection-based applications for the interaction between a LAGLIDADG homing endonuclease and its DNA target. Quantitative flow cytometry using oligonucleotide subs...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Developed in 1991, nucleic acid sequence-based amplification (NASBA) has been introduced as a rapid molecular diagnostic technique, where it has been shown to give quicker results than PCR, and it can also be more sensitive. This paper describes the development of a molecular beacon-based multiplex NASBA assay for simultaneous detection of HIV-1 and HCV in plasma sampl...