Digene's Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2) CT/GC, CT-ID, and GC-ID DNA tests were evaluated by comparison to traditional culture methods for detecting
Chlamydia trachomatis
and
Neisseria gonorrhoeae
infections ...in 669 cervical specimens from high-risk female populations attending two sexually transmitted disease clinics. For detection of either or both infections, the HC2 CT/GC test algorithm had 93.8% sensitivity and 95.9% specificity compared to those of culture. After resolution of discrepant results by direct fluorescent-antibody (DFA) staining or PCR assay, the relative sensitivity and specificity of the HC2 CT/GC test algorithm increased to 94.8 and 99.8%, while the values for culture were 83.6% (McNemar's
P
value, 0.0062) and 100%, respectively. For detection of the individual pathogens, the relative sensitivities for the HC2 CT-ID and GC-ID tests were 97.2 and 92.2% and the specificities were greater than 99% compared to culture adjucated by DFA staining and PCR. Test performance varied at the two clinics: the HC2 CT/GC algorithm, CT-ID, and GC-ID tests had significantly higher sensitivities (McNemar's
P
value, <0.05) than that of culture for the population at one clinic as well as for the combined populations. At the other clinic, the HC2 tests performed as well as culture.
Influenza in children with cancer Kempe, A; Hall, C B; MacDonald, N E ...
The Journal of pediatrics,
07/1989, Volume:
115, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We prospectively followed a group of unimmunized, immunosuppressed children with cancer to determine their relative risk of influenza and the severity of infection compared with those of siblings or ...matched community controls. The incidence of influenza infection was higher in children with cancer (23/73, 32%) than in control subjects (10/70, 14%, p = 0.02). A preseason hemagglutination inhibition titer greater than or equal to 1:32, generally used as a marker of successful immunization in vaccine trials, was protective for all children in the control groups, but did not prevent influenza infection in 24% of the patients with cancer. Infection rates of patients and community controls with titers greater than or equal to 1:32 differed significantly (p = 0.006). No significant differences were noted in duration of reported symptoms between groups, and clinical complications occurred too infrequently to analyze. However, 2 (11%) of 18 of the cancer patients with positive culture results were hospitalized during the illness and one patient developed a nosocomial infection. None of the control children was hospitalized. These findings suggest the need for further study of the immunologic response of immunosuppressed children to influenza infection and a clinical efficacy trial of the influenza vaccine in these patients.
We explore observational and theoretical constraints on how galaxies might transition between the "star-forming main sequence" (SFMS) and varying "degrees of quiescence" out to \(z=3\). Our analysis ...is focused on galaxies with stellar mass \(M_*>10^{10}M_{\odot}\), and is enabled by GAMA and CANDELS observations, a semi-analytic model (SAM) of galaxy formation, and a cosmological hydrodynamical "zoom in" simulation with momentum-driven AGN feedback. In both the observations and the SAM, transition galaxies tend to have intermediate Sérsic indices, half-light radii, and surface stellar mass densities compared to star-forming and quiescent galaxies out to \(z=3\). We place an observational upper limit on the average population transition timescale as a function of redshift, finding that the average high-redshift galaxy is on a "fast track" for quenching whereas the average low-redshift galaxy is on a "slow track" for quenching. We qualitatively identify four physical origin scenarios for transition galaxies in the SAM: oscillations on the SFMS, slow quenching, fast quenching, and rejuvenation. Quenching timescales in both the SAM and the hydrodynamical simulation are not fast enough to reproduce the quiescent population that we observe at \(z\sim3\). In the SAM, we do not find a clear-cut morphological dependence of quenching timescales, but we do predict that the mean stellar ages, cold gas fractions, SMBH masses, and halo masses of transition galaxies tend to be intermediate relative to those of star-forming and quiescent galaxies at \(z<3\).
Two study chimpanzees were inoculated intravenously with approximately 1,000 chimpanzee infectious doses of hepatitis B virus (HBV), one with subtype adr and one with subtype ayw, each previously ...incubated with 0.1 ml of a murine monoclonal antibody (IgG 1(K) class) directed against a single epitope on hepatitis B surface antigen common to most or all HBV. Two control chimpanzees received identical doses of HBV not incubated with the murine anti-HBs. Neither study chimpanzee developed HBV infection during 12 months of follow-up as judged by normal serum aminotransferase activity, normal liver biopsies, and negative serological tests for HBV-associated antigens and antibodies. In contrast, both control chimpanzees became infected by HBV as evidenced by elevated serum aminotransferase activity, liver biopsy changes characteristic of viral hepatitis, and the appearance of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in their sera. Both study chimpanzees were shown to be fully susceptible to infection with these same HBV inocula when challenged 15 months after the initial inoculations at a time when passively administered anti-HBs was no longer detectable. Prior to challenge with HBV, one of the two study chimpanzees received a second injection of the same volume of the murine monoclonal anti-HBs. The survival of this anti-HBs in serum was reduced from six weeks (after the initial injection) to approximately two weeks.
PDF
