LED fluorescence microscopy for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis: a multi-country cross-sectional evaluation.

Background: The diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in resource-limited settings relies on Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) smear microscopy. LED fluorescence microscopy (LED-FM) has many potential advantages over ZN smear microscopy, but requires evaluation in the field. The aim of this study was to assess the sensitivity/specificity of LED-FM for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB and whether its performance varies with the timing of specimen collection.

A multi-country non-inferiority cluster randomized trial of frontloaded smear microscopy for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Background: More than 50 million people around the world are investigated for tuberculosis using sputum smear microscopy annually. This process requires repeated visits and patients often drop out.

Methods And Findings: This clinical trial of adults with cough ≥2 wk duration (in Ethiopia, Nepal, Nigeria, and Yemen) compared the sensitivity/specificity of two sputum samples collected "on the spot" during the first visit plus one sputum sample collected the following morning (spot-spot-morning [SSM]) versus the standard spot-morning-spot (SMS) scheme.

New policies, new technologies: modelling the potential for improved smear microscopy services in Malawi.

Background: To quantify the likely impact of recent WHO policy recommendations regarding smear microscopy and the introduction of appropriate low-cost fluorescence microscopy on a) case detection and b) laboratory workload.

Methodology/principal Findings: An audit of the laboratory register in an urban hospital, Lilongwe, Malawi, and the application of a simple modelling framework. The adoption of the new definition of a smear-positive case could directly increase case detection by up to 28%.

Evaluation of commercially available anti-dengue virus immunoglobulin M tests.

Anti-dengue virus immunoglobulin M kits were evaluated. Test sensitivities were 21%-99% and specificities were 77%-98% compared with reference ELISAs. False-positive results were found for patients with malaria or past dengue infections.

Cystatins.

Chicken egg white cystatin was first described in the late 1960s. Since then, our knowledge about a superfamily of similar proteins present in mammals, birds, fish, insects, plants and some protozoa has expanded, and their properties as potent peptidase inhibitors have been firmly established. Today, 12 functional chicken cystatin relatives are known in humans, but a few evolutionarily related gene products still remain to be characterized.

Cystatins C, E/M and F in human pleural fluids of patients with neoplastic and inflammatory lung disorders.

Secretory type 2 cystatins, like cystatins C, E/M and F, are thought to be involved in many pathobiological processes, including vascular amyloidosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, viral and bacterial infections, inflammatory disorders and tumour invasion and metastasis. In order to define the levels of cystatins C, E/M, and F in pleural effusions and to investigate whether these cystatins correlate with diagnostic parameters of pleural and lung diseases, we determined their concentrations in 160 pleural effusions. The median concentration of cystatin C in pleural effusions was 1437 microg/l (95.

Regulated expression and intracellular localization of cystatin F in human U937 cells.

Cystatin F is a cysteine peptidase inhibitor recently discovered in haematopoietic cells by cDNA cloning. To further investigate the expression, distribution and properties of the native human inhibitor the promyeloid cell line U937 has been studied. The cells expressed relatively large quantities of cystatin F, which was found both secreted and intracellularly.