In quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), normalization using reference genes is a common useful approach, but the validation of suitable reference genes remains a crucial problem. Use of unconfirmed reference genes may lead to misinterpretation of the expression of target genes. The aim of this study was to adapt an adequate statistical approach to identify and...

BACKGROUND Previously, a biomarker panel was developed for use as an aid to major depressive disorder (MDD) diagnosis; it consisted of 9 biomarkers associated with the neurotrophic, metabolic, inflammatory, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis pathways. This panel and associated algorithm produced good clinical sensitivity and specificity (92% and 81%, respectively) in differentiating MDD pa...

Introduction Brain death (BD) is the irreversible termination of the functioning of the brain. The diagnosis should be first made by clinical criteria and confirmed by using paraclinical confirmatory techniques (ancillary tests). While conventional brain angiography remains the standard method of choice, computed tomography angiography (CTA) has emerged as an alternative method. In this study, ...

Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae grown on Thayer-Martin medium and media with and without serum were examined by the Phadebact Gonococcus Test. By using the direct method, in which colonies from growth media were mixed directly with the reagents on a microscope slide, Thayer-Martin medium, contrary to the manufacturer's claim, was not found to be the medium giving best results, and presence or ...

The objective was to validate the performance under field conditions of a novel commercially available ELISA for confirmation of pregnancy using measurement of pregnancy-associated glycoproteins in milk samples from dairy cows. The target population was cows previously diagnosed pregnant by veterinary examination and ≥ 60 d of gestation. On 8 farms milking Holstein cows, milk samples were colle...

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing for peak oxygen uptake (Vo(2peak)) can evaluate prognosis in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, with the peak respiratory exchange ratio (RER(peak)) commonly used to confirm maximal effort and maximal oxygen uptake (Vo(2max)). We determined the precision of RER(peak) in confirming Vo(2max), and whether a novel ramp-incremental (RI) step-exercise (SE) (RISE) t...

This study intends to understand why the social network sites users continue to use the service and why would they turn to other social network services. By integrating the honesty of self-disclosure with confirmation and three dimensions of social capital with perceived usefulness, we establish a new expectation confirmation model to understand the continuance intention of social network sites...

Thought processes and cognitive aspects of people have a significant impact on software quality, as software is designed, implemented and tested by people. In this preliminary research, we conducted a field study during a 24 hour non-stop exploratory software development event: “hackathon". During hackathons, people collaborate intensively on software projects. The focus of this hackathon was a...

BACKGROUND Confirmation of clinical meningococcal disease (MCD) is essential for management of patients, contacts, and outbreaks. Blood and CSF cultures, the traditional gold standard diagnostic tests, have been adversely affected by preadmission parenteral penicillin and fewer lumbar punctures. Rapid, reliable serogroup determination without the need to grow isolates could improve laboratory c...