Prior to serological testing, influenza viruses are typically propagated in eggs or cell culture. Recent human H3N2 strains bind to cells with low avidity. Here, we isolated nine primary H3N2 viral isolates from respiratory secretions of children. Upon propagation in vitro, five of these isolates acquired hemagglutinin or neuraminidase mutations that increased virus binding to cell surfaces. Th...

Specificity analysis for stx or Stx subtypes in Escherichia coli showed that the PCR assays we tested did not detect stx(1d) and stx(2f), and some also missed stx(2b) and stx(2g). Most of the serological assays examined did not detect Stx2c, Stx2e, Stx2f, and Stx2g, and some strain-to-strain variation in reactivity was observed for Stx2b.

We previously derived a typology of schizophrenia from a latent class analysis of 447 first-contact non-affective functional psychotic patients from a defined catchment area. Here, using the same sample, we show that the three subtypes, 'neurodevelopmental' (Type A), 'paranoid' (Type B) and 'schizoaffective' (Type C) have different premorbid, phenomenological and treatment response characterist...

The sensitivity of immunoassay for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 may decrease over time. We compared three serology assays against nucleocapsid protein using serum samples 20 health care workers with a history mild PCR-confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at various timing since diagnosis. Overall, the (95% confidence interval) was 95.0 (75.1-99.9), 60.0 (36.1-81.0), and 45.0 (23.1-68.5) Ro...

OBJECTIVE To determine the current use and potential acceptance (by tuberculosis experts worldwide) of novel rapid tests for the diagnosis of tuberculosis that are in line with World Health Organization target product profiles. METHODS A multilingual survey was disseminated online between July and November of 2016. RESULTS A total of 723 individuals from 114 countries responded to the surve...

Serological assays detecting neutralising antibodies are important for determining the immune responses following infection or vaccination and also often considered a correlate of protection. The target is usually located in Envelope protein on viral surface, which mediates cell entry. As such, presentation lentiviral particle represents convenient alternative to handling potentially high conta...

One of the most important QC tests of whole-cell pertussis vaccine (WCPV) is potency test. In this regard, mouse protection test (MPT) is the current potency method, which is associated with severe animal distress and large variability in results. The purpose of this study was to assess Pertussis Serological Potency Test (PSPT) as a serological alternative method to intracerebral challenge in M...