Search results for "specificity"
showing 10 items of 2234 documents
Simultaneous identification of campylobacters and prediction of quinolone resistance by comparative sequence analysis.
1997
Comparative sequence analysis of a 30-bp segment in the quinolone resistance-determining region of campylobacters not only allows for the detection of base changes associated with resistance but also is a powerful tool for species identification based on silent mutations.
Transcriptional expression of selected genes associated with excretion of carboxylic acids from aci mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
2013
Introduction: Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an excellent model organism for studies of transcriptional regulation of metabolic processes in other eukaryotic cells including human cells. Cellular acid-base balance can be disturbed in pathologic situations such as renal acidosis or cancer. The extracellular pH of malignant solid tumors is acidic in the range of 6.5-6.9. EG07 and EG37 aci mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae excessively excrete carboxylic acids to glucose-containing media or distilled water. The excreted acids are Krebs and/or glyoxylate cycle intermediates. The genes restoring the wild-type phenotype have function that does not easily explain theAci phenotype.Material/Methods: I…
Evaluation of the Amplex eazyplex Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay for Rapid Diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii Pneumonia
2020
ABSTRACT Quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays are the gold standard for diagnosis of Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PCP). However, they are laborious and require skilled personnel. Therefore, execution outside regular working hours of the molecular biology laboratory is limited. The eazyplex P. jirovecii assay (PJA) uses loop-mediated isothermal amplification for detection of P. jirovecii. It is performed directly with respiratory specimens, without the need for special skills, and delivers a result within 3 to 25 min. The goal of our study was to compare the performance of the eazyplex PJA with that of established P. jirovecii qPCR assays. All archived bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samp…
Application of fnbA gene as new target for the species-specific and quantitative detection of Staphylococcus aureus directly from lower respiratory t…
2013
Staphylococcus aureus is a significant cause of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP), particularly in mechanically ventilated patients. We used the fibronectin-binding protein A gene (fnbA) for the species-specific and quantitative detection of S. aureus directly from lower respiratory tract (LRT) specimens by a Taq Man real time PCR. For this reason, a total of 269 lower respiratory tract (LRT) specimens collected from patients with hospital-acquired pneumonia were assayed. Amplification of fnbA in serial dilutions ranged from 10(9) CFU/ ml to 10(2) CFU/ml. Standard curve of triplicate every dilution had slope 3.34±0.1 and R2>0.99 with SD 0.1. Based on these data, the sensitivity and specif…
Validation of intensive care unit-acquired infection surveillance in the Italian SPIN-UTI network
2010
Validity is one of the most critical factors concerning surveillance of nosocomial infections (NIs). This article describes the first validation study of the Italian Nosocomial Infections Surveillance in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) project (SPIN-UTI) surveillance data. The objective was to validate infection data and thus to determine the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of NI data reported on patients in the ICUs participating in the SPIN-UTI network. A validation study was performed at the end of the surveillance period. All medical records including all clinical and laboratory data were reviewed retrospectively by the trained physicians of the validat…
Evaluation of the diagnostic performances of two commercially available assays for the detection of enteric adenovirus antigens
2021
The performance of 2 antigenic commercial assays for enteric adenovirus (AdV) infection, bioNexia Rota-Adeno ImmunoChromatographic Tests (ICT) and LIAISON® Adenovirus ChemiLuminescence Immuno Assays (CLIA), was evaluated on 321 stools from children hospitalized for acute gastroenteritis in Palermo, Italy, using a Real time-PCR (Rt-PCR) as reference method. The CLIA showed higher sensitivity (77% vs 60%), accuracy (94.4 vs 90.9) and concordance (k: 0.81 vs 0.67) with respect to ICT, despite equivalent specificity (98.8%). Using the Ct values of the Rt-PCR as a proxy of the fecal viral load, similar Ct values (mean 9.32 vs 9.89) were observed among the true positive samples, whilst a signific…
Interactions in dual species biofilms between Listeria monocytogenes EGD-e and several strains of Staphylococcus aureus.
2008
International audience; Six environmental isolates of Staphylococcus aureus and one collection strain were investigated for their ability to form monospecies biofilms and dual species biofilms with Listeria monocytogenes EGD-e on stainless steel coupons. All isolates were able to grow as biofilms but their ability to form monospecies biofilms differed. The population of L. monocytogenes EGD-e in dual species biofilms was not affected by the presence of S. aureus isolates except for strain CIP 53.156. The effect of L. monocytogenes EGD-e on the population of S. aureus was strain dependent: S. aureus population either increased or decreased or was not affected in the presence of L. monocytoge…
Determinants of Vertical Coordination in Buyer-Seller Relations: Exploratory Findings from a Developing Economy
2011
This study aims at understanding determinants of vertical coordination for firms in developing economies by conducting exploratory study in Tanzania. The study is centred on business - to business buyer -seller relations. Primary data were collected from buying side of the relationship. The main supplier of each firm was identified and used for answering the questionnaire.Findings suggest contractual flexibility to have higher significant positive effect in determining vertical coordination. The interaction effect between buyer asset specificity and contractual flexibility was also significant, while asset specificity by itself was not found to be significant. These prelimenary findings sug…
Comparison of two portable solid state detectors with an improved collimation and alignment device for mammographic x-ray spectroscopy.
2006
We describe a portable system for mammographic x-ray spectroscopy, based on a 2 X 2 X 1 mm3 cadmium telluride (CdTe) solid state detector, that is greatly improved over a similar system based on a 3 X 3 X 2 mm3 cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) solid state detector evaluated in an earlier work. The CdTe system utilized new pinhole collimators and an alignment device that facilitated measurement of mammographic x-ray spectra. Mammographic x-ray spectra acquired by each system were comparable. Half value layer measurements obtained using an ion chamber agreed closely with those derived from the x-ray spectra measured by either detector. The faster electronics and other features of the CdTe detecto…
Repeatability of Feather Mite Prevalence and Intensity in Passerine Birds
2014
Understanding why host species differ so much in symbiont loads and how this depends on ecological host and symbiont traits is a major issue in the ecology of symbiosis. A first step in this inquiry is to know whether observed differences among host species are species-specific traits or more related with host-symbiont environmental conditions. Here we analysed the repeatability (R) of the intensity and the prevalence of feather mites to partition within- and among-host species variance components. We compiled the largest dataset so far available: 119 Paleartic passerine bird species, 75,944 individual birds, ca. 1.8 million mites, seven countries, 23 study years. Several analyses and appro…