1,721,005 research outputs found
Toxoplasmosis in pregnancy: evaluations of diagnostic methods
No full textToxoplasmosis in pregnancy is usually subclinic or associates with non specific symptoms. Diagnosis and timing of infection are usually based on serological tests. In this short review we tried to summarize the serological patterns we can encounter and to discuss the interpretation of test results
A New complement fixation test for toxoplasmosis. Comparison with other serological methods
No full textA new complement fixation test for toxoplasmosis has been compared with the classical test indirect immunofluorescence test (IFAT) and indirect haemoagglutination test (IHAT). Neither false positive or negative results were obtained with LBCF-H100-TTE. Notably these values correlate well with IFA titers. Furthermore LBCF-H100-TTE shows the highest titers in acute cases and its time course is pratically superimposable to IFAT. The differences obtained performing these different tests on the preferential detection of different antigen antibodies systems by these 3 tests are discussed
Comparison between the complement fixation test LBCF-H100-TTE, IHAT and IgM-IFAT performed on pure IgM fractions in acute acquired and congenital toxoplasmosis
No full textThe use of gel filtration method allowed us to obtain pure IgM fractions to be tested for specific Toxoplasma serology. The good correlation found in our series between IgM-IFAT and LBCF-H100-TTE performed on pure IgM fractions suggests that LBCF-H100-TTE may be another useful serological tests for detection of IgM antibodies although false negative results might occur when LBCF-H100-TTE is performed on IgM fractions on cord sera
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
IgM-IFA, IgM-ELISA, DS-IgM-ELISA, IgM-ISAGA, performed on whole serum and IgM fractions, for detection of IgM anti-toxoplasma antibodies during pregnancy
No full textThe traditional IgM-ELISA has a better sensibility and specificity than IgM-IFA when these two tests are performed on whole sera, but in many cases (sera titer values of greated than 200 I.U./ml) the presence of IgM antitoxoplasma antibodies can be detected only after purification of IgM fractions. The separations of IgM fractions avoids either false positive results due to the rheumatoid factors or antinuclear antibodies, and false negative results due to the competition between IgG and IgM antibodies. The present investigation has shown that antibody titers obtained by IgM-IFA and traditional IgM-ELISA correlate well with DS-IgM-ELISA and IgM-ISAGA performed on whole serum. The false negative results that frequently occur with IgM-IFA and traditional IgM-ELISA performed on whole sera heving sera titer values of greater than 200 I.U./ml in IgG IFA are avoided when the same sera were tested by DS-IgM-ELISA and IgM-ISAGA. All the sera which gave positive results by DS-IgM-ELISA were also positive when tested with IgM-ISAGA. Our researches demonstrate the high specificity and sensitivity of IgM-ISAGA and DS-IgM-ELISA performed on whole serum
Spiramycin treatment of Toxoplasma gondii infection in pregnant women impairs the production and the avidity maturation of T. gondii-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies
No full textThe aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of treatment with spiramycin on the increase of immunoglobulin G (IgG) titers and IgG avidity indexes (AI) in pregnant women with seroconversion from the beginning of therapy until delivery and after delivery. This group was compared with adult patients with recently acquired untreated toxoplasmosis. One hundred four samples from 32 pregnant women with seroconversion for toxoplasmosis and/or very low IgG AI were followed from the beginning of therapy with spiramycin until delivery. Twenty-nine women were further followed some months after delivery and interruption of therapy. Thirty-eight samples from 16 untreated, nonpregnant patients were evaluated as the control group. The Toxoplasma gondii-specific IgG antibody and the T. gondii-specific IgG AI were significantly delayed in pregnant women receiving therapy compared to nonpregnant, untreated controls, and the findings were consistent with the results of assays from two different manufacturers. The T. gondii-specific IgG AI increased in pregnant women after they gave birth. Avidity maturation is delayed during pregnancy and treatment, and low-avidity antibodies in pregnant women within 3 to 4 months cannot be taken as a sign of infection
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