Three different laboratory methods for diagnosing malarial infections, especially with Plasmodium falciparum, were evaluated in this study using thirty infected samples (22 samples contained Plasmodium falciparum, 8 samples contained P. vivax.). These methods included stained thick blood films, Quantitative Buffy Coat system, and Dipstrip (ParaSight-F) immunoassay. Comparison among the three me...

The detection of Trypanosoma cruzi kinetoplast DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification is a potentially powerful tool for the parasitological diagnosis of Chagas' disease. We have applied this technique in a field situation in Bolivia, where 45 children from a primary school were subjected to serological testing, buffy coat analysis and PCR diagnosis. 26 of the 28 serology-positive...

During a medical survey the sleeping sickness focus in Bonon, Ivory Coast, PCR with Trypanosoma brucei specific primers (TBR 1-2 from Parasitology 99 (1989) 57) was tested on DNA derived from blood samples. DNA purification using a chelating resin was performed either on whole blood or on the buffy coat prepared in two different ways. The preparation based on whole blood performed better than t...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The present study was undertaken to find out a new easy method in the diagnosis of malaria by centrifuged buffy coat smear, which was found to be a feasible and reasonable procedure. METHODS Blood samples collected from 120 patients suspected of malaria were subjected to all three diagnostic modalities-peripheral blood smear (PS), centrifuged buffy coat smear (CBCS) an...

Trypanosoma cruzi parasitemia observed in immunocompromised patients (transplant or positive HIV) occurred more frequently by the artificial xenodiagnosis method (10/38) compared with hemoculture (2/38), given the same quantity of blood. Other ways of diagnosis, like mice inoculation (5/38), QBC and buffy coat (2/38), were evaluated also. This result showed the importance of the artificial xeno...

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether the higher prevalence of postoperative complications in cardiac surgery after transfusion of leukocyte-containing red blood cells can be related to inflammatory mediators. DESIGN Analysis of inflammatory markers interleukin-6, interleukin-10, interleukin-12, and procalcitonin in patients participating in a randomized trial comparing leukocyte-depleted with leu...

Previous in vitro studies have shown that immune complexes (IC) that fix complement can bind to the C3b receptor on primate erythrocytes. The in vivo function of this erythrocyte receptor, however, is unknown. This study was undertaken to determine whether the binding of IC to erythrocytes in vivo might play a role in the removal of IC from the circulation. Baboons and rhesus monkeys were prepa...