Preparing for bioterrorism.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L M Mann.
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The Captia Syphilis IgG enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was evaluated for use in conjunction with the rapid plasma reagin test (RPR) as a method to test for syphilis. A total of 1,288 serum specimens were tested by the routine laboratory protocol of the RPR followed by microhemagluttination assay for Treponema pallidum (MHA-TP) testing of RPR-reactive sera as well as the EIA-RPR protocol in which the automated EIA followed by a manual RPR test for EIA-positive specimens is used. When using the routine protocol, 131 specimens were initially reactive by the RPR, and 113 of these were reactive by MHA-TP. When using the EIA-RPR protocol, 170 specimens were initially positive by EIA, and of these, 112 were RPR reactive, indicating active disease. When compared to the routine protocol, the EIA-RPR protocol had sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 96.5, 99.7, 97.3, and 99.7%, respectively. After resolution of discrepancies by additional testing, the adjusted sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were 100, 99.8, 98.3, and 100%, respectively. This evaluation demonstrates that when used in conjunction with the RPR, the Captia Syphilis EIA is a reliable method by which to test for syphilis.
The past decade has seen significant improvement in the laboratory methods for the diagnosis of viral infections. Specific antiviral agents are available for treatment of several viral infections, further increasing the need for rapid and accurate viral diagnostics. Multiple rapid direct detection methods are available commercially for many viruses. Isolation of viruses has been improved by the use of centrifugation-enhanced culture and pre-CPE detection. In the future, nucleic acid amplification techniques will also become widely available. Given limitations in resources, clinical laboratories need to critically examine the cost-effectiveness of newer methods in patient care.
The molecular and structural basis of mengovirus hemagglutination (HA) was investigated by the comparison of nucleotide sequences of the entire capsid coding regions of an HA+ variant, two HA- mutants, 205 and 280, and two HA+ revertants of 205. The mutants were selected after acridine mutagenesis of mengovirus-37A, a heat-stable and HA+ variant that is neurotropic in mice. HA+ revertants of mutant 205 were isolated from brain tissue of mice inoculated with mutant 205. The nucleotide sequences were determined by consensus RNA sequencing using genomic RNA templates from purified virions. Two nucleotide differences were observed in the VP1 coding region of the RNA genomes of mutants 205 and 280 in comparison to the RNA sequences of 37A and the revertants. Interpretation of these data predict substitutions of two consecutive amino acids at residues 1231 (K to R) and 1232 (P to S) of VP1 which form part of the H-I loop of VP1 found at the icosahedral fivefold axis. Analysis of the amino acid substitutions in the context of the three-dimensional structure of the mengovirus-M capsid indicated that hemagglutination most likely involves residues found at the icosahedral fivefold axis and probably does not involve the residues that form the putative cellular receptor binding site (the "pit"). Eleven amino acid differences were observed between the structural proteins of mengovirus-M and 37A, five in VP1, three in VP2, and three in VP3.
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Using a measure of bulimia (BULIT) that has demonstrated validity and reliability, the prevalence of bulimia among three samples of college females was found to range from 2.0 to 3.8%. These percentages are substantially lower than most previous reports would suggest. Factor analysis of the BULIT data revealed that the binging factor accounted for 63% of the variance. Other factors identified include vomiting, negative feelings about overeating, menstruation problems, preference for high caloric/easily ingested food, and weight fluctuations. The intercorrelations among the factors were examined and the implications of these data for the proposed revised DSM-III criteria for bulimia are discussed.
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We evaluated the Immuno-1 (Bayer Diagnostics, Tarrytown, New York, USA) and IMx (Abbott Laboratories, Chicago, Illinois, USA) toxoplasma IgG assays in 298 (223 fresh in-house prenatal + 75 supplied by Bayer) specimens over 15 days. Discordant results were resolved by indirect fluorescence assay (Gull Laboratories, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA). The performance of Immuno-1 assay was found to be comparable to the IMx assay. Immuno-1, being a random access analyzer with minimum hands-on time requirements may have an advantage in the overall laboratory efficiency.
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