Studies measuring the fibrin degradation product D-Dimer (DD) using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) in patients with venographically proven deep venous thrombosis (DVT) suggest that it is possible to exclude DVT when DD level is below a certain cut-off level. However, ELISA methods are time-consuming and not available in all laboratories. Different rapid latex-agglutination assays ha...

OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence of sensitisation to natural rubber latex in latex tappers and latex glove factory workers, and to relate this to airborne exposure to latex. METHODS Five hundred workers employed in three latex glove factories, 314 tappers, and 144 college students (control group) were studied. The workers in the glove factories were classified into three exposure groups;...

A longitudinal hemispherical standing-wave ultrasonic trap for size-selective separation of microspheres in small-diameter capillaries is described. The trap utilizes the competition between acoustic radiation forces and viscous drag forces on spheres suspended in a liquid inside 20– 75-mm-diam fused silica capillaries. Experiments performed on 3.0and 4.7-mm-diam latex spheres demonstrate the p...

Polystyrene (PS) nanoparticle (NP) copolymerized with acrylic acid (AA) and coloured monomer, i.e. 2,3,6,7-tetra(2,2'-bithiophene)-1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic-N,N'-di(2-methylallyl)-bisimide (ALN8T), was synthesized via the miniemulsion polymerization. Before applying for malaria antigen detection, the blue NP was conjugated with human polyclonal malaria IgG antibody (Ab) specific to Pla...

The authors evaluated a simple latex agglutination test for the serodiagnosis of acute human leptospirosis. A total of 380 serum samples from 85 confirmed leptospirosis patients and 202 non-leptospirosis patients were selected Using the selected cut-off value of weakly positive, the overall sensitivity and overall specificity of the test were 94.1% and 97.0% respectively. The weighted kappa val...

Cryptococcal meningitis is common in sub-Saharan Africa. Given the need for data for a rapid, point-of-care cryptococcal antigen (CRAG) lateral flow immunochromatographic assay (LFA), we assessed diagnostic performance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture, CRAG latex agglutination, India ink microscopy, and CRAG LFA for 832 HIV-infected persons with suspected meningitis during 2006-2009 (n = 29...

Rubella virus antibodies were measured in 300 sera from pregnant women visiting a maternity center by using a new, simple latex test, Rubalex. The results were compared with those obtained by using hemolysis in gel, hemagglutination inhibition, and radioimmunoassay. The sensitivity of the latex test was 100, 98.0, and 99.6% when compared with hemolysis in gel, hemagglutination inhibition, and r...

CHROMagar Staph. aureus (CSA) is a new chromogenic medium for presumptive identification of Staphylococcus aureus as mauve colonies after 24 h of incubation. We conducted a preliminary study with 100 S. aureus and 45 coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CoNS) stock isolates plated on CSA. All S. aureus isolates yielded mauve colonies after 24 h of incubation at 37 degrees C, while CoNS isolates g...

Agglutination reactions obtained with three commercial latex reagents for detecting Escherichia coli O157 antigen (Oxoid Diagnostic Reagents, Hampshire, England; Pro-Lab Inc., Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada; and Remel Microbiology Products, Lenexa, Kans.) and one for detecting H7 antigen (Remel) were compared with those obtained by standard serologic methods by using the Centers for Disease Con...