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Biomedical subjects

L Spencer

Publications and source records attributed to L Spencer.

82 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

New reporting system aids epidemiologists.

The feedback loop reporting system lifts the burden of reporting communicable diseases from the physician's shoulders and ensures more efficient, and more frequent, reporting.

Communicable Disease Control↗

Primary health care for Hispanic children of migrant farm workers.

Providing primary care to children of culturally diverse populations is a challenge for pediatric nurse practitioners and educators. The challenge is intensified when providing care to Hispanic children who are uprooted because their parent(s) are migrant farm workers. The creation of health-focused academic community partnerships is one unique strategy to improve primary care to these children. One such partnership is the ongoing Migrant Family Health Program in which practitioner nursing students and their faculty members provide primary health care to children who are enrolled in a summer education program for migrant children.

Child↗

Evaluation of the double diffusion, enzyme immunoassay and immunoblotting techniques, for the diagnosis of human hydatid disease in tropical areas.

Hydatid disease in tropical areas poses a serious diagnostic problem due to the high frequence of cross-reactivity with other endemic helminthic infections. The enzyme-linked-immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and the double diffusion arc 5 showed respectively a sensitivity of 73% and 57% and a specificity of 84-95% and 100%. However, the specificity of ELISA was greatly increased by using ovine serum and phosphorylcholine in the diluent buffer. The hydatic antigen obtained from ovine cyst fluid showed three main protein bands of 64, 58 and 30 KDa using SDS PAGE and immunoblotting. Sera from patients with onchocerciasis, cysticercosis, toxocariasis and Strongyloides infection cross-reacted with the 64 and 58 KDa bands by immunoblotting. However, none of the analyzed sera recognized the 30 KDa band, that seems to be specific in this assay. The immunoblotting showed a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 100% when used to recognize the 30 KDa band.

Antigens, Helminth↗

High-titer antisera production using three adjuvants and peptide conjugates derived from malarial surface antigen MSA-2.

We have identified a 51-kDa glycosylated myristoylated merozoite surface antigen as the target of a number of monoclonal antibodies that inhibit P. falciparum invasion. This antigen has been shown to exist in a limited number of strain-specific forms, but despite wide variation in the sequences of the internal repeat regions both N- and C-terminal elements of the protein are almost totally conserved. Accordingly, we prepared a large number of overlapping peptide constructs and demonstrated that one peptide, SNTFINNA (E-71), from the N-terminus and two peptides, QHG HMHGS (G-5) and NTSDSQKE (G-12), from the C-terminus were capable, when suitably conjoined to carrier protein diphtheria toxoid, of eliciting antibodies reactive with MSA-2 from diverse strains of P. falciparum. Here we compared the immunogenicity of the peptide constructs when formulated with a Freund's adjuvant, alum and algammulin. Both peptide constructs E-71 and G-5 elicit high-titer antibodies with all three adjuvants when tested by ELISA against the immunogens themselves and by Western blotting of whole parasite extracts from two distinct parasite strains.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗

[Comparative analysis between the circumoval precipitin test and ELISA with raw antigens for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis in Venezuela].

Schistosomiasis has special characteristics in Venezuela, since the majority of the infected population is asymptomatic and the elimination of eggs is very low, difficulting in this way parasitologic diagnosis. It is thus necessary to develop sensitive and specific immunologic methods to be applied in field surveys. The present study compares two serologic tests for Schistosomiasis, the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with eggs (SEA) and adult (AWA) antigens and the traditional circumoval precipitation test (COPT). Sensitivity and specificity of the test were performed being 100% and 92% in COPT, 79% and 71% in ELISA-SEA and 71% and 91% in ELISA-AWA respectively. Advantages and disadvantages of each test are discussed.

Adolescent↗