We describe a direct, solid-phase time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay (TRFIA) for measuring 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (17OHP) in serum and blood spots on filter paper. We used 17OHP-3-carboxymethyloxime (17OHP3CMO) coupled to polylysine as the label, which enabled incorporation of up to 34 atoms of europium per molecule of 17OHP, for a very high specific activity. The assay is based on competiti...

tion in nmol/L and x is the year of collection). In the autoclaved cards, 17-OHP concentrations were 27.3% lower than in the native cards: median (25th–75th percentiles), 5.6 (3.6–8.9) nmol/L vs 7.7 (5.3–11.1) nmol/L; P 0.001. Thus, 17-OHP in dried blood spots on autoclaved or native filter-paper cards decreased 2–3% annually, and the decrease was significant on native cards but not on autoclav...

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of prevention of the mother to child transmission (PMTCT) program in Benin City, Nigeria on the prevalence of postnatal infant HIV. Effects of the duration of PMTCT, place of birth and sex of the infants on the prevalence of postnatal HIV were also assessed. Dried blood spots were collected from 318 infants (6−8 weeks old) born to HIV-positive m...

BACKGROUND Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is highly co-morbid with depression. Depression is associated with elevated levels of the inflammation marker C-reactive protein (CRP), cross-sectionally and over time. To date, no studies have looked at the association between CRP and GAD. METHOD A total of nine waves of data from the prospective population-based Great Smoky Mountains Study (n=14...

Sodium bisulfite treatment followed by PCR and DNA sequencing is widely considered the gold standard for the analysis of DNA methylation patterns. However, this technique generally requires substantial quantities of genomic DNA as starting material and is often associated with degradation of DNA. Here, we assess the feasibility of performing bisulfite sequencing on DNA isolated from 3-mm diamet...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the incidence of mixed-species (MS) malaria infection, and compare the results with microscopically confirmed cases of malaria. METHODS During 2010, blood spots collected from 371 clinically suspected cases of malaria were microscopically examined in a cross-sectional study. The DNA was extracted from the samples, and a nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was perfo...

The long delay in returning test results during early infant diagnosis of HIV (EID) often causes loss-to-follow-up prior to antiretroviral treatment (ART) initiation in resource-limited settings. A point-of-care (POC) test may help overcome these challenges. We evaluated the performance of the LYNX p24 Antigen POC test in Mozambique. 879 HIV-exposed infants under 18 months of age were enrolled ...

BACKGROUND Efforts are underway to eliminate trachoma as a public health problem by 2020. Programmatic guidelines are based on clinical signs that correlate poorly with Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) infection in post-treatment and low-endemicity settings. Age-specific seroprevalence of anti Ct Pgp3 antibodies has been proposed as an alternative indicator of the need for intervention. To standardis...

X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) is a rare inherited metabolic disorder characterized by an impaired beta-oxidation of very long chain fatty acids in the peroxisomes. Recent studies have suggested that 1-hexacosanoyl-2-hydroxy-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (Lyso-PC 26:0) can be a sensitive biomarker for X-ALD. Although approximately 10-fold increase in the concentration of Lyso-PC 26:0 in DB...

OBJECTIVES Confirmation of breakthroughs in three different malaria chemoprophylactic regimens (chloroquine 300 mg weekly and proguanil 100 mg daily; chloroquine 300 mg weekly and proguanil 200 mg daily; proguanil 200 mg daily) and assessment of compliance. DESIGN Prospective, randomised multicentre trial. SETTING Five vaccination centres in the Netherlands. SUBJECTS Dutch travellers to e...