We compared the Gen-Probe transcription-mediated amplification assay (AMP CT), the Abbott LCx assay, and the Roche COBAS AMPLICOR assay for the detection of Chlamydia trachomatis in a mixed population in urine samples. First-void urine, urethral specimens, and cervical specimens in females were obtained from 1,000 patients (544 males and 456 females) visiting the outpatient sexually transmitted...

Abstract Background The LabGenius C-CT/NG-BMX assay (LabGenius CT/NG; BIOMEDUX, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea) is a recently developed real-time polymerase chain reaction that can simultaneously detect sexual transmitted pathogens (Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG)) in vaginal swab specimen or urine specimen. Methods To evaluate the analytical performance, total 343 167...

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) caused by toxigenic strains of C. difficile is primarily a nosocomial infection with increasing prevalence. Stool specimens are typically collected in Cary-Blair transport medium to maximize culture-based detection of common stool pathogens. The goal of this study was to establish an analytically accurate and efficient algorithm for the detection of CDI in ...

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to compare the results of commercial chairside microbial tests (CT) and conventional selective media (GS, gold standards) for mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB) using oral specimens from young children with and without visible dental caries. METHODS Using cotton swabs to collect oral microbial specimens from children 10 to 36 months old, micro...

In this prospective study, the fully automated cobas 4800 CT/NG and the cobas TaqMan CT tests were compared for Chlamydia trachomatis detection in urine and in genital specimens collected with Copan flocked swabs in culture media. A protocol was also established for the highly sensitive detection of C. trachomatis in semen specimens using the cobas 4800 CT/NG test. A total of 708 consecutive ur...

OBJECTIVE High-resolution MRI methods have been used to evaluate carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque content. The purpose of this study was to assess the performance of high-resolution MRI in evaluation of the quantity and pattern of mineral deposition in carotid endarterectomy (CEA) specimens, with quantitative micro-CT as the gold standard. METHODS AND RESULTS High-resolution MRI and CT w...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to investigate the role of dry cryogenic treatment (CT) temperature and time on the Vickers hardness and wear resistance of new martensitic shape memory (SM) nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloy. The null hypothesis tested was that there is no difference in Vickers hardness and wear resistance between SM NiTi alloys following CT under two soaking temperatures and tim...

An inexpensive device was created for computed tomographic (CT)-guided stereotactic biopsy of the canine brain. The accuracy of the device was tested using 16, formalin-perfused, canine head specimens. For each dog, a 6-inch biopsy needle was guided into pituitary gland and caudate nucleus targets. Needle tracks were measured using the CT computer and infused with tissue staining solution. Hit ...

Stable ductile crack growth in 3 mm thick AISI 304 stainless steel specimens has been investigated experimentally and numerically. Multi-linear Isotropic Hardening method coupled with the Von-Mises yield criterion was adopted for modeling elasto-plastic behavior of the material. Mode-I CT fracture specimens have been tested to generate experimental load-displacement-crack growth data during sta...

The aim of the study was to assess the normal cranial suture and bone diploae ultrastructural morphology. Two types of sutures from different specimens were collected. The micro-CT scanning provided a three-dimensional view of the sutures at a microscopic level thus allowing the evaluation of the development stage and a rapid analysis evaluation of bone and diploae morphology. In the meantime, ...