To evaluate commercially available diagnostic kits for human immunoglobulin G to Toxoplasma gondii, we purchased three enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (Cordia-T, Toxo Bio-EnzaBead, and Toxoelisa), two indirect hemagglutination (IHA) (TPM-Test and ToxHAtest), one fluoroimmunoassay (Toxoplasma-G FIAX), and one latex agglutination (Eiken Toxotest-MT) kit from U.S. suppliers. A total of 100 serum specimen...

A new immunoenzymatic assay (IEA) for the identification of Staphylococcus aureus strains of both human and animal origin was compared with rapid commercial kits. The sensitivities and specificities of the commercial kits varied from 90.2 to 96% and 90.8 to 93.7%, respectively. The IEA did not give any false-negative or false-positive results, while commercial kits gave high percentages of fals...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a protein often studied in psychiatric populations. Commercial ELISA kits have been validated for measuring BDNF in blood plasma and serum, but blood collection is an invasive method which cannot always be used. The aim of this pilot study was to explore the noninvasive alternative of measuring BDNF in saliva. Three different commercial ELISA kits wer...

Five commercial kits for the determination of folate and six kits for the determination of vitamin B12 were investigated. Their performance has been compared with microbiological methods for the two vitamins and with a non-commercial radioisotopic method for B12. The results show the importance of the determination of the reference range for an individual laboratory for each method. The precisi...

Commercial nucleic acid extraction kits are a cost effective, efficient and convenient way to isolate DNA and RNA from bacteria. Despite the increasing importance of the gastrointestinal pathogen, Clostridium difficile, and the increased use of nucleic acids in its identification, characterization, and investigation of virulence factors, no standardized or recommended methods for nucleic acid i...

Three widely used commercial hemoglobin electrophoresis kits were studied to ascertain specificity, accuracy, precision, and characteristics of product information. Two hundred and ninety-six hemoglobin samples were used to evaluate each kit. Except for poor separation of hemoglobin F by one kit, all three kits gave generally satisfactory results. We give specific recommendations for improving ...

Background: Previous studies have shown considerable variation in diagnostic performance of enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for measuring antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) specific for proteinase 3 (PR3) and myeloperoxidase (MPO). Objective: To analyse the performance characteristics of different commercially available direct ANCA ELISA kits. Methods: ELISA kits for detec...

BACKGROUND Purity, yield, speed and cost are important considerations in plasmid purification, but it is difficult to achieve all of these at the same time. Currently, there are many protocols and kits for DNA purification, however none maximize all four considerations. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We now describe a fast, efficient and economic in-house protocol for plasmid preparation usin...

Rapid antibody detection has been used widely as a diagnostic aid in the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB), especially for bacterium-negative TB. We evaluated the diagnostic value of four commercial antibody detection kits with 501 sera from TB patients and controls. The sensitivities and specificities of the four kits were as follows: (1) Rapid test A 71.8% and 91.4% (85.5% for non-TB diseases an...