Comparison of a polymer conjugate-enhanced enzyme immunoassay to ligase chain reaction for diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis in endocervical swabs.

Two endocervical swabs from each of 1,123 women were collected into manufacturer-supplied transport tubes and tested for Chlamydia trachomatis by a polymer conjugate-enhanced (PCE) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (IDEIA PCE Chlamydia; DAKO) and a ligase chain reaction assay (LCx Chlamydia; Abbott). After confirmation by the EIA blocking test, the sensitivity of the IDEIA PCE remained at 91.8% and the specificity increased from 98.2 to 99.8% compared to LCx.

Pooling cervical swabs and testing by ligase chain reaction are accurate and cost-saving strategies for diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis.

Specimen pooling to achieve efficiency when testing urine specimens for Chlamydia trachomatis nucleic acids has been suggested. We pooled endocervical swabs from 1,288 women and also tested individual swabs by ligase chain reaction (LCR). Out of 53 positive specimens, pools of 4 or 8 specimens missed two positives, providing 96.2% accuracy compared to individual test results. Dilution and positive-control spiking experiments showed that negative specimens with inhibitors of LCR in the pool reduced the signal. Conversely, two extra positives, detected only through pooling, were negative by individual testing but became positive after storage, suggesting that fresh positive specimens with labile inhibitors may be positive in a pool because of dilution of inhibitors. For this population of women with a 4% prevalence of C. trachomatis infection, substantial savings in cost of reagents (55 to 63%) and technologist time (50 to 63%) made pooling strategies a desirable alternative to individual testing.

Differences in Proteins Synthesized in Needles of Unshaded and Shaded Pinus ponderosa var Scopulorum Seedlings during Prolonged Drought.

Proteins were radiolabeled and extracted from needles of Pinus ponderosa var scopulorum (Dougl. ex Laws.) seedlings progressively drought-stressed for about 1 month. A set of novel, low molecular weight proteins was detected in fluorographs of two-dimensional gels when relative water content of needles fell below 70%. Their synthesis was undetectable in the fully recovered seedlings within 48 hours after rewatering. In similarly stressed seedlings that were shaded to 10% full light, the low molecular weight polypeptides were not detected or appeared at very low levels. The shaded seedlings, in which drought tolerance was reduced, did not recover upon termination of the drought. The results suggest that protein synthesis induced by water deficit in drought-tolerant seedlings may contribute to resisting the effects of cellular dehydration.

[The internal mammary artery in myocardial revascularization]. / L'arteria mammaria interna nella rivascolarizzazione miocardica.

Internal mammary artery by-pass graft is a very usefull alternative to venous by-pass graft for myocardial revascularization. From February 1982 up to August 1984, 111 patients with coronarosclerosis have been operated on with left internal mammary artery. Right internal mammary artery has been also used in 2 cases. Left internal mammary artery has been used as a sequential graft 13 times. Vein grafts have been associated in more than 2/3 of the patients who had surgery with internal mammary artery and the mean of anastomoses per patient was 2.9. Five patients had a perioperative myocardial infarction and one an infarction shortly after the operation. Ten patients had immediate reoperation: 5 for postoperative bleeding, 2 for arterial graft anastomosis occlusion, 2 for sudden ST elevation and 1 for acute myocardial infarction. Only one patient died for acute myocardial infarction post-operatively, following coronary artery spasm. Eighty-six patients have been followed-up 3 to 31 months after surgery. Advantages and limits of this surgical technique are discussed.