The Lyra Direct strep assay was compared to culture for its ability to detect Streptococcus group A and β-hemolytic groups C/G using rapid antigen-negative pharyngeal specimens (n = 161). The Lyra assay correctly detected all β-hemolytic streptococci (group A, n = 19; group C/G, n = 5). In batch mode, the Lyra assay reduced intralaboratory turnaround time by 60% (18.1 h versus 45.0 h) but incre...

A rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric assay for venom phospholipase A2 based on the hemolysis of guinea pig erythrocytes in the presence of decomplemented serum and cardiotoxin (direct lytic factor) is described. This assay is particularly useful for rapid multisample analyses, such as those used in monitoring chromatography fractions, and is specific for phospholipase A2 in the presence of ...

Metallic work is one of the widespread economic activities in urban Kano. Little or no attention is usually directed at occupational health risk by local or state authorities in Kano. The present work was aimed at the evaluation of DNA damage in metal workers by Alkaline Comet Assay in blood lymphocytes. The results showed that there was significant difference statistically between the level of...

objective(s):gemifloxacin is a broad spectrum antibiotic and has shown excellent coverage against a wide variety of microorganisms. in this study, an attempt was made to evaluate the immunomodulatory potential of gemifloxacin in male swiss albino mice in vivo. materials and methods: three doses of gemifloxacin 25 mg/kg, 50 mg/kg and 75 mg/kg were used intraperitoneally (ip) for the evaluation o...

Traditionally, determination of inhibitory potency of complement inhibitors is performed by the hemolytic assay. However, this assay is not applicable to the lectin pathway, thus impeding the understanding of complement inhibitors against the overall function of the complement system. The main objective of our study was to develop a specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as an alter...

Butia catarinensis Noblick & Lorenzi, popularly known as “beach butiá”, is a species extensively used in the food area, but little explored regarding its toxicological safety and pharmacological potential. Therefore, aim of this study was to evaluate whether fixed oil B. (OFBc) promotes hemolysis vitro if it can increase resistance human erythrocytes (anti-hemolytic activity), also investig...

Using cultured mouse fibroblast L929 cells, this study demonstrated the hemolytic and cytotoxic activities and induction of apoptosis in cells infected with Orientia tsutsugamushi. Low levels of hemolytic activity were detected using heavily infected cells. No hemolysin or cytotoxin were detected in the infected culture fluid regardless of the pathogenicity of the O. tsutsugamushi strains in mi...

Eight cases of hemolytic-uremic syndrome in which no pathogens were isolated were diagnosed serologically by a passive hemagglutination assay and a verotoxin (VT; Shiga-like toxin) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The passive hemagglutination assay employed formalinized sheep erythrocytes sensitized with soluble native antigen or heat-treated antigen (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]) from Es...

For thrombotic microangiopathies (TMAs), the diagnosis of atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is made by ruling out Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC)-associated HUS and ADAMTS13 activity-deficient thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), often using the exclusion criteria for secondary TMAs. Nowadays, assays for ADAMTS13 activity and evaluation for STEC infection can be perf...

In this issue of Blood, Noris et al describe a functional complement assay that can be used to diagnose atypical hemolytic-uremic syndrome (aHUS). This assay might also be useful in identifying aHUS patients in remission and in detecting asymptomatic carriers of complement gene mutations. Besides being used for diagnostic purposes, this assay potentially can be used to monitor anticomplement th...