Multicenter evaluation of a new 4th generation HIV screening assay Elecsys HIV combi.

Fourth-generation screening assays which permit a simultaneous detection of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antigen and antibody reduce the diagnostic window on average by four days in comparison to third-generation antibody assays. Recently, the new automated Elecsys HIV combi was compared in a multicenter study to alternative fourth- and third-generation assays, p24 antigen test and HIV-1 RNA RT-PCR. A total of 104 serocon-version panels, samples of the acute phase of infection after seroconversion (n = 33), anti-HIV-1 positive specimens (n = 572) from patients in different stages of the disease, 535 subtyped samples from different geographical locations, including group M (subtypes A-J) and group O, anti-HIV-2 positive sera (n = 364), dilutions of cell culture supernatants (n = 60) infected with different HIV-1 subtypes, selected performance panels, 8406 unselected samples from blood donors originating from different blood transfusion centers, 3810 unselected sera from daily routine and from hospitalized patients, 9927 unselected samples from South Africa and 1943 potentially interfering samples were tested with the Elecsys HIV combi.

Plasmapheresis therapy in pemphigus vulgaris and bullous pemphigoid.

Blistering dermatitises are characterized by the presence of blisters that begin owing to acantholysis (intraepidermic blister) such as pemphigus vulgaris (PV) or owing to dermoepidermic detachment (subepidermic blister) such as bullous pemphigoid (BP). Both diseases are autoimmune pathologies characterized by the presence of autoantibodies against specific adhesion molecules of the skin and mucous membranes. PV, in which oral lesions are always present, has a progressive course that, if the disease is not treated, nearly always brings to death from sepsis within a few years.

[Acquired deficiency of von Willebrand factor (wWF) associated with intestinal angiodysplasia. An unusual clinical case].

A rare case of acquired von Willebrand's disease associated with intestinal angiodysplasia is described. The case is very interesting because it clinically mimicked an intestinal neoplasm.

Plasma-exchange in chronic peripheral neurological disorders.

We investigated 19 patients affected by chronic peripheral neurological disorders treated with therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) to verify the efficacy of the therapeutic protocol used in these diseases. Every patient was clinically considered after 5 TPE. Those who showed an improvement started chemotherapy and continued TPE at the rate of 2 procedures/week for 2 weeks, then 1 procedure/week for 1 month and finally 1 procedure every 2 weeks for 2 months.

DDAVP infusion in haemophilia A carriers: different behaviour of plasma factor VIII and von Willebrand factor.

1-desamino-8-D-arginine vasopressin (DDAVP) increases factor VIII (FVIII) and von Willebrand factor (vWF) levels in patients with haemophilia A and in some patients with von Willebrand disease. It is generally held that the increase of FVIII is a consequence of the increase of vWF. Carriers of haemophilia A generally, but not always, show plasma FVIII levels lower than vWF due to an abnormality in one of the two alleles of the FVIII gene.