HPV self-sampling in CIN2+ detection: sensitivity and specificity of different RLU cut-off of HC2 in specimens from 786 women.

Aims: Mortality for cervical cancer varies between the different regions of the world, with high rates in low-income countries where screening programmes are not present and organised. However, increasing screening coverage is still a priority in all countries: one way to do that is to base screening on self-sampled screening. The success of a self-sampling screening strategy depends on capacity to recruit unscreened women, on the performance and acceptability of the device and on the clinical performance of the high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV) test.

Comparison of Onclarity Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Assay with Hybrid Capture II HPV DNA Assay for Detection of Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia Grade 2 and 3 Lesions.

Analytical and clinical performance validation is essential before introduction of a new human papillomavirus (HPV) assay into clinical practice. This study compares the new BD Onclarity HPV assay, which detects E6/E7 DNA from 14 high-risk HPV types, to the Hybrid Capture II (HC2) HPV DNA test, to concurrent cytology and histology results, in order to evaluate its performance in detecting high-grade cervical lesions. A population of 567 women, including 325 with ≥ASCUS (where ASCUS stands for atypical cells of undetermined significance) and any HC2 result and 242 with both negative cytology and negative HC2 results, were prospectively enrolled for the study.

Analytical comparison of the cobas HPV Test with Hybrid Capture 2 for the detection of high-risk HPV genotypes.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a causal agent of cervical cancer, and persistent HPV16 or HPV18 infection carries a particularly high risk. The cobas HPV Test (cobas) provides individual HPV16/HPV18 genotyping with a simultaneous result for 12 other high-risk HPV (hrHPV) genotypes. Its analytical performance for hrHPV genotype detection was retrospectively evaluated against the digene Hybrid Capture 2 HPV DNA test (HC2), in three European centers, in 1360 cervical samples.

228Ra/226Ra/224Ra and 87Sr/86Sr isotope relationships for determining interactions between ground and river water in the upper Rhine valley.

Ground and river waters of the upper Rhine valley (Alsace, France) were investigated for chemical composition of the major elements, Sr isotopes and radionuclides from the U and Th series. In particular, the isotope ratios and concentrations of Ra and Sr were used as geochemical tracers to distinguish between different types of water and their interactions. The bulk chemical analyses suggest that the surface waters in the Rhine valley can be described as mixtures between Ca-Na-HCO3-rich ground water and less mineralized slightly acidic river waters which have migrated through crystalline (mainly granitic) basement rocks of the Vosges mountains.

Determination of 228Ra, 226Ra and 224Ra in natural water via adsorption on MnO2-coated discs.

A fast procedure based on sorption of Ra on MnO2 coated polyamide discs is presented for determination of radium isotopes (i.e. 228Ra, 226Ra, 224Ra) in aqueous samples.