QuantiFERON TB Gold: a new method for latent tuberculosis infection

QuantiFERON-TB Gold obtained approval in 2003 by the Food and Drug Administration as a valid tool for the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis. In this report, we evaluated its potential use in the immunological diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections in different groups of subjects. Our data indicate that QuantiFERON-TB Gold is specific for identifying subjects who have come into contact with M. tuberculosis and its use alongside traditional diagnostic techniques may be an important instrument for controlling tuberculosis.     

糠秕马拉色菌药敏试验新方法的探讨

目的 建立一种新的糠秕马拉色菌药敏试验方法.方法 在ATBF2半固体培养基中添加不同种类和含量的脂质,用ATB Fungus 3药敏板条对ATCC14521和临床分离的糠秕马拉色菌进行了MIC测试.结果 孵育时间为72 h时对照孔中糠秕马拉色菌生长充分,吐温40浓度为1％时糠秕马拉色菌生长充分,且对药敏结果的影响最小.脂质的种类和含量对实验结果有影响.结论 用改良ATB Fungus 3药敏试验方法对糠秕马拉色菌进行抗真菌药敏试验,方法操作简便、结果易观察、试验结果重复性好.临床分离菌株与糠秕马拉色菌ATCC14521在ATB Fungus 3对照孔中的生长状况相同,结果易于判断.     

A new method for multilayered,site-directed immobilization of antibody on polystyrene surface

Polystyrene is a common substrate material for protein adsorption in biosensors and bioassays. Here, we present a new method for multilayered, site-directed immobilization of antibody on polystyrene surface through the linkage of a genetically engineered ligand and the assembly of staphylococcal protein A (SPA) with immunoglobulin G (IgG). In this method, antibodies were stacked on polystyrene surface layer by layer in a potential three-dimensional way and exposed the analyte-binding sites well. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) revealed that the new method showed a 32-fold higher detection sensitivity compared with the conventional one. Pull-down assay and Western blot analysis further confirmed that it is different from the ones of monolayer adsorption according to the comparison of adsorption capacity. The differentiated introduction of functional ligands, which is the key of this method, might offer a unique idea as a way to interfere with the dynamic behavior of a protein complex during the process of adsorption.     

Studies on the interaction between actin and cofilin purified by a new method.

Cofilin is a 21,000-Mr actin-binding protein that widely exists in mammalian tissues. (1) A new purification procedure for porcine brain cofilin has been developed that involves (NH4)2SO4 fractionation and sequential chromatographies on Toyo Pearl and butyl-Toyo Pearl hydrophobic columns, hydroxyapatite, phosphocellulose and Sephadex G-75 gel-filtration columns. The purified cofilin bound to F-actin and increased the amount of G-actin to a limited extent, as previously reported [Nishida, Maekawa & Sakai (1984) Biochemistry 23, 5307-5313]. (2) The binding of cofilin to F-actin was scarcely affected by Mg2+, Ca2+ or by calmodulin. However, the binding was diminished by increasing concentrations of KCl, but was only slightly affected by temperature. (3) Cofilin and either alpha-actinin or filamin could bind to F-actin simultaneously with some competition, but the binding of caldesmon to F-actin was markedly inhibited by cofilin. Phalloidin inhibited the binding of cofilin to F-actin, and protected F-actin from depolymerization by cofilin.     

A new method for purification of anti-glycosphingolipid antibody. Avian anti-hematoside (NeuGc) antibody

A new method for purification of anti-glycosphingolipid antibodies had been developed. N-Glycolylneuraminyl(alpha 2-3)lactosylceramide [hematoside (NeuGc)] could be hydrophobically bound on octyl-Sepharose 4B in the presence of 0.1 M KCl. The Sepharose gel coated with hematoside (NeuGc) was used as immunoadsorbent for affinity column chromatography to purify avian anti-hematoside (NeuGc) antibody. The procedure is very simple, reproducible and applicable to purification of almost all anti-glycosphingolipid antibodies. The glycosphingolipid used for the affinity chromatography could be recovered without any destruction by successive extraction of the gel with methanol and methanol/chloroform (1:2, v/v).     

Mumps prophylaxis in the light of a new test for antibody.

A radial haemolysis test was used to investigate immunity to mumps. Antibody was found in 92 (42%) out of 220 children aged up to 5 years, 124 (78%) out of 159 children aged 6--10 years, 192 (86%) out of 222 children aged 11 years, 138 (92%) out of 150 children aged 15 years, and 280 (95%) out of 296 women attending an antenatal clinic. A group of 307 cadets aged 16--18 years were also tested and interviewed: 133 (95%) out of 140 who said that they had had mumps and 108 (87%) out of 124 who said that they had not had mumps were found to have antibody. The results suggest that tests for immunity to mumps by radial haemolysis would permit more rational use of mumps-specific immunoglobulin and attenuated mumps vaccine.     

A new method to determine mean adult height from incomplete follow-up data

BACKGROUND/AIM: In long-term growth studies with adult height (AH) as outcome, reporting is often required while data are incomplete because some participants have not yet reached AH whereas others might be lost to follow-up. Current practice is to analyze only participants who did reach AH, which can easily give biased results. We introduce a new method into the area of growth research. METHODS: We used the data of patients from a registration database and a growth study. The new method uses growth data in time intervals. The percentage of children still growing and the mean growth at each interval are used to determine mean AH. RESULTS: With the new method, estimated mean AHs had smaller bias and standard error than with commonly used methods. The method is not hampered by a correlation between AH and age at reaching AH, unlike methods merely using patients who have reached AH. CONCLUSION: In contrast to commonly used methods, the new method provides valid results on mean AH when complete actual measurements of AH are not (yet) available, provided that drop-out, if any, is not related to (disappointing) growth. As it also uses observed data of children with incomplete follow-up, the method employs the data more effectively.     

A new method for the evaluation of antibody affinity based on serial dilutions of studied antibody-antigen mixture

A new method for the evaluation of the affinity of bivalent antibodies were suggested. This method is based on the previously published by the author the idea of using so-called coordinates of dilutions. It was shown that the suggested method allows to evaluate the affinity of antibodies with high accuracy using this simple approach. It is supposed that at some conditions the suggested method could have substantial advantages in comparison to the traditional methods. This method allows to analyze situations when antibodies are already in a mixture with antigen, for example in the bloodstream in the case of infections or autoimmune diseases. The method provides useful approach for the evaluation not only antibody affinity, but also the concentration of circulated antigen.