Comparative evaluation of different meningococcal group-specific erythrocyte diagnostic kits in passive hemagglutination test

The comparative evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of serogroup A, C, Y meningococcal antigenic preparations obtained by different methods was carried out by means of the passive hemagglutination test. In case of group 0 (I) human red blood cells sensitized with serogroup A and C vaccinal preparations obtained by Gotschlich's method (designated as A-1 and C-1) were used. In the other case formalin-treated sheep red blood cells sensitized with group-specific polysaccharides obtained by alcohol precipitation from the cultural fluid of group A, C and Y meningococci with subsequent heating (designated as A-2, C-2, Y) were used. Titrations with commercial immune rabbit sera showed that both variants of the antigenic preparations were similar in their specificity and sensitivity. In patients with the symptoms of meningitis the diagnostic titer was 1:40 for preparations A-1, C-1 and 1:80 for preparations A-2, C-2 and Y. The results of the examination of 164 patients (220 serum specimens) demonstrated that these preparations were of equal diagnostic value.     

Adenovirus antibody measured by the passive hemagglutination test

Lefkowitz, Stanley S. (Variety Children's Research Foundation, Miami, Fla.), Julia A. Williams, Bernard E. Howard, and M. Michael Sigel. Adenovirus antibody measured by the passive hemagglutination test. J. Bacteriol. 91:205-212. 1966.-Rabbits immunized intravenously with adenovirus type 5 antigen were tested for antibody titers by use of the passive hemagglutination test (PHA). Primary and secondary responses were studied, and the class of antibody was determined by means of density gradient centrifugation and reduction with 2-mercaptoethanol (ME). It was found that the PHA was 10 to 100 times more sensitive than complement-fixation and neutralization tests for the detection of antibodies to adenovirus. The immunological response to primary immunization was dependent on the dose of antigen, with antibody appearing in as early as 3 days. After secondary stimulation with the same antigen, there was a rapid response which appeared to be less dose-dependent. It was found that a heavy 19S antibody sensitive to ME was produced early and was followed by a lighter, presumably 7S, ME-resistant antibody. Upon secondary stimulation, both 7S and 19S antibody increased to levels greater than those of the primary injection.     

Use of the passive hemagglutination test to diagnose toxoplasmosis]

The authors describe a method of obtaining toxoplasma erythrocytic diagnostic agent by sensitization of formalinized tannin-treated SRBC with purified toxoplasma antigen isolated by fractionation of complete toxoplasma antigen on Sephadex G-100. Comparative experiments with titration of sera of persons with suspected toxoplasmosis were conducted; the passive hemagglutination test with the antigen obtained proved to be highly sensitive in comparison with immunofluorescence and complement fixation tests.     

False-positive results obtained from the branch-site test of positive selection

Natural selection operating at the amino acid sequence level can be detected by comparing the rates of synonymous (r(S)) and nonsynonymous (r(N)) nucleotide substitutions, where r(N)/r(S) (omega) > 1 and omega < 1 suggest positive and negative selection, respectively. The branch-site test has been developed for detecting positive selection operating at a group of amino acid sites for a pre-specified (foreground) branch of a phylogenetic tree by taking into account the heterogeneity of omega among sites and branches. Here the performance of the branch-site test was examined by computer simulation, with special reference to the false-positive rate when the divergence of the sequences analyzed was small. The false-positive rate was found to inflate when the assumptions made on the omega values for the foreground and other (background) branches in the branch-site test were violated. In addition, under a similar condition, false-positive results were often obtained even when Bonferroni correction was conducted and the false-discovery rate was controlled in a large-scale analysis. False-positive results were also obtained even when the number of nonsynonymous substitutions for the foreground branch was smaller than the minimum value required for detecting positive selection. The existence of a codon site with a possibility of occurrence of multiple nonsynonymous substitutions for the foreground branch often caused the branch-site test to falsely identify positive selection. In the re-analysis of orthologous trios of protein-coding genes from humans, chimpanzees, and macaques, most of the genes previously identified to be positively selected for the human or chimpanzee branch by the branch-site test contained such a codon site, suggesting a possibility that a significant fraction of these genes are false-positives.     

Dominant-lethal test results with known mutagens in two laboratories

During investigations of the potential dominant lethal activity of various chemicals, concurrent controls were run to check the sensitivity and the reproducibility of the test systems. These experiments were carried out over an 18-month period in two laboratories using similar protocols.Negative control substances used were maize oil, dispersol, tween 80 and water. Positive control substance used were cyclophosphamide, ethyl methane-sulphonate and mechlorethamine hydrochloride (nitrogen mustard). The substances were administered either intraperitoneally or by gavage.The results were analysed using, principally, a hierarchical analysis of variance of the total implants per pregnancy and the transformed early deaths per pregnancy data.Pregnancy frequency generally did not fall below 80%. The total number of implantations per pregnancy was usually about 11.8 in negative controls and was variably reduced by the mutagens used. With cyclophosphamide or ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS), there were some quantitative variations in the results obtained but qualitative agreement was good in the results both between experiments in the same laboratory and between the two laboratories. It was demonstrated that EMS is a useful positive control substance in experiments with orally administered materials. Sensitivity of the system was indicated by positive effects with a relatively low dose of EMS and consistent positive results with mechlorethamine for which a dominant lethal effect has not been demonstrated previously.It is concluded that the dominant lethal test gives reproducible data and it is, thus, possible to have confidence in the results and to compare findings in different laboratories using similar protocols.