For culture-negative meningitis, use of the latex agglutination test for detection of bacterial antigen in the CSF has a sensitivity of only 7%. Routine use of the latex agglutination test may not contribute to the management of suspected acute bacterial meningitis, since patients are treated on the basis of their clinical presentations and CSF findings.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability worldwide. Currently, there is no effective treatment for stroke survivors. Stem cell factor (SCF) and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) are the growth factors regulating hematopoiesis. We have previously observed that SCF and G-CSF have neuroprotective and functional effects on acute brain ischemia. In the prese...

One of the most useful criteria for the diagnosis or exclusion of neurosyphilis is the result of a VDRL test performed on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) obtained by lumbar puncture. A 'bloody tap' occurs in about 10 per cent. of lumbar punctures (Solomon, 1935). How valid is a reactive serological test for syphilis on CSF from a 'bloody tap'? Although several investigators have evaluated the problem...

BACKGROUND We studied the role of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tap test at idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) in improving cerebral blood flow velocity indices by transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography. METHODS Twelve patients with assumed INPH were included in the study. The CSF tap test and INPH grading score was carried out according to the standard protocol. TCD was performed bef...

background : meningitis is more common during the neonatal period than other periods of life and has a prevalence of one in 1000 live births. the similarity of its clinical manifestations with other infectious diseases makes it difficult to diagnose. the aim of the current study was to determine the relationship between age, sex, clinical signs and symptoms and laboratory test results of newbor...

In human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), two disease stages are defined: the first, or haemo-lymphatic stage, and the second, or meningo-encephalitic stage. Stage determination forms the basis of therapeutic decision and is of prime importance, as the drug used to cure second-stage patients has considerable side-effects. However, the tests currently used for stage determination have low sensitiv...

BACKGROUND Current laboratory tests often cannot distinguish between bacterial and aseptic meningitis rapidly and accurately. The ability to make a prompt diagnosis has important implications for the management and outcome of children with meningitis. The observation that leukocytes aggregate in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been previously reported, and it has been advocated as a reliable ...

difference, similar to the up to 1.9 cycle difference seen across protocols. The similarity in cycle differences suggests that differences in cycle threshold values may be due to intra-assay variation and not related to the sample processing protocol used. These results show that centrifugation may not be necessary for testing CSF. Additionally, as CSF samples tend to be paucibacillary compared...

Following brain injury, S100B is released from damaged astrocytes but also yields repair mechanisms. We measured S100B in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum (Cobas e411 electrochemiluminescence assay, Roche) longitudinally in a large cohort of patients treated with a ventricular drainage following traumatic brain injury (TBI) or subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Statistical analysis was perfo...