Search results for "BSA"
showing 10 items of 263 documents
Field performance of HBsAg rapid diagnostic tests in rural Ethiopia.
2020
Abstract Point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests (POC-RDTs) are widely used to screen and diagnose hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and are often the only available diagnostic tools in resource-limited settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of three hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) POC-RDTs (Healgen®, Advanced Quality™ and Determine™) in an area with high prevalence of HBV in eastern Ethiopia. Results were compared with a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as gold standard. Quantification of HBsAg was performed in false negative samples. A total of 511 subjects were screened, of whom 81 (15.9 %) were HBsAg-positive with the gold standard. All three P…
Thermostabilization of BSA in TMAO Water Mixtures by Infrared Spectroscopy
2019
Background:Trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO) is a small organic molecule derived from the metabolism of L-carnitine and choline after ingestion of animal food. TMAO has many functions such as electron acceptor, an osmolyte, stabilizer of macromolecules folding. It seems that TMAO plays an important role in nature but, in humans, it is a remnant of the evolution of the osmolyte system.Objective:The present paper is addressed on the study of thermal stability of hydrated Bovine Serum Albumins (BSA) in the presence of water and TMAO water solution by means of InfraRed spectroscopy. In particular, this work has investigated the protein amide I spectral regions, which is sensitive to protein seconda…
Éducation primaire et croissance économique en Afrique subsaharienne : les conditions d'une relation efficace
1995
This article is looking at the causes of the low effectiveness of educational investment in Subsaharan Africa, both at the micro level (effect on labour productivity), and at the macro level (effect on the rate of economic growth). Several recent empirical studies have shown that education impact is systematically weaker in this region than in the rest of the world, and even sometimes negative, as in the case of agricultural productivity. Two series of causes may explain this lack of impact : first, inappropriate economic policies at the macro level which hamper the role of education, either through negative incentives structures, or because of the absence of provision of associated factors…
Uzņēmējdarbības dimensija attīstības sadarbībā - gadījumu salīdzinošā analīze Subsahāras Āfrikā
2015
Bakalaura darba nosaukums ir „Uzņēmējdarbības dimensijas attīstības sadarbībā – gadījumu salīdzinošā analīze Subsahāras Āfrikā”. Mērķis – noskaidrot vai uzņēmējdarbība pozitīvi ietekmē attīstību Subsahāras Āfrikas reģionā. Pētnieciskais jautājums: Vai uzņēmējdarbība Ganā un Kenijā ir pozitīvi ietekmējusi abu valstu attīstības rādītāju izmaiņas laika posmā no 2005. gada līdz 2013. gadam? Darbā tiek apskatīti ekonomiskās attīstības teorētiskie aspekti, Subsahāras Āfrikas attīstības izaicinājumi, uzņēmējdarbības atbalsta starptautisko finanšu institūciju darbība, statistika par MVU darbību un attīstības rādītājiem Ganā un Kenijā no 2005. gada līdz 2013. gadam. Noslēgumā ir izvirzīti secinājumi…
Hepatitis B virus-specific T-cell responses during IFN administration in a small cohort of chronic hepatitis B patients under nucleos(t)ide analogue …
2013
The effect of pegylated interferon-α (IFN) add-on therapy on HBV-specific T-cell responses was evaluated in 12 patients with stable, undetectable hepatitis B virus (HBV) load under nucleos(t)ide analogue therapy. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated at week 0, 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 of IFN add-on therapy. Quantity and quality of circulating HBV S- and core-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells were analysed ex vivo by flow cytometry. HBV S- and core-specific CD4 T-cell numbers modestly increased within 8 weeks of IFN administration (P = 0.0391 and P = 0.0195), whereas HBV-specific CD8 T cells in general showed only minor changes under IFN add-on therapy. Functionality of HBV-specific CD4 bu…
Active immunization of homosexual men using a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine
1989
Twenty homosexual men [13 anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive, seven anti-HIV negative] without HBsAg, anti-HBs, and anti-HBc were vaccinated with three 20 micrograms doses of a recombinant hepatitis B vaccine. All anti-HIV-positive homosexuals were nonresponders independent of the initial number of CD4-positive cells. Among seven anti-HIV-negative individuals, five responded. After three doses of the vaccine, CD4-positive cells fell in anti-HIV positive individuals by 22.4%. A similar fall in CD4-positive cells of an average 24.9% was noted in 17 matching, but nonvaccinated, anti-HIV-positive homosexuals. The study indicates that the efficacy of vaccination in anti-HIV-positiv…
Hepatitis B surface antigen presentation and HLA-DRB1*– lessons from twins and peptide binding studies
2005
Summary The aim of this study was to investigate the underlying mechanisms of the genetic association between certain HLA-DRB1* alleles and the immune response to HBsAg vaccination. Therefore, HBsAg peptide binding to HLA-DR molecules was measured in vitro by peptide binding ELISAs. Additionally, HBsAg-specific T cell reaction and cytokine profile of immune response were analysed ex vivo in ELISPOT assays and DR-restriction of T-cell proliferative responses was investigated with HBsAg specific T cell clones. In addition, we compared HBsAg specific T cell responses of 24 monozygotic and 3 dizygotic twin pairs after HBsAg vaccination. Our results showed that the peptide binding assays did not…
The influence of major histocompatibility complex class II genes and T-cell Vbeta repertoire on response to immunization with HBsAg.
1998
Nonresponsiveness to HBsAg vaccination is observed in 5-10% of vaccine recipients and is possibly caused by a defect in the T helper cell compartment. The immune response to HBsAg is influenced by genes of the major histocompatibility complex. We have investigated MHC class I and class II antigens in 53 adult responders and 73 nonresponders. Results obtained in this first study were tested in a second study with 56 responders and 62 nonresponders from an infant vaccination trial. In addition, the peripheral Vbeta-chain T-cell receptor repertoire was investigated using monoclonal antibodies and flow-cytometry in 26 adult responders and 38 nonresponders. As previously reported, nonresponsiven…
Impact of comorbidities on the severity of chronic hepatitis B at presentation.
2011
AIM: To evaluate the clinical relevance of each cofactor on clinical presentation of chronic hepatitis B. METHODS: Out of 1366 hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) positive subjects consecutively observed in 79 Italian hospitals, 53 (4.3%) showed as the only cofactor hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection [hepatitis B virus (HBV)/HDV group], 130 (9.5%) hepatitis C virus (HCV) (group HBV/HCV), 6 (0.4%) human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) (group HBV/HIV), 138 (10.2%) alcohol abuse (group HBV/alcohol); 109 (8.0%) subjects had at least two cofactors and 924 were in the cofactor-free (CF) group. RESULTS: Compared with patients in group CF those in group HBV/alcohol were older and more frequently had ci…
The importance of HCV on the burden of chronic liver disease in Italy: a multicenter prevalence study of 9,997 cases
2005
Knowledge of the current epidemiology of chronic liver disease in Italy is mostly obsolete and fragmentary for the lack of up-to-date consistent data. In 2001, a 6-month prevalence study was undertaken in 79 hospitals to assess the characteristics of chronic liver disease in Italy. Both prevalent and incident cases were enrolled. A total of 9,997 patients were recruited, of whom 939 (9.4%) had normal liver biochemistry, 6,210 (62.1%) had chronic hepatitis, 1,940 (19.4%) had liver cirrhosis, and 341 (3.4%) had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In 567 patients (5.7%) the diagnosis was not established. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) was found in 69.9% of the patients and was the only etiological factor…