The impact of sleep deprivation and nighttime light exposure on clock gene expression in humans.

Aim: To examine the effect of acute sleep deprivation under light conditions on the expression of two key clock genes, hPer2 and hBmal1, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and on plasma melatonin and cortisol levels.

Methods: Blood samples were drawn from 6 healthy individuals at 4-hour intervals for three consecutive nights, including a night of total sleep deprivation (second night). The study was conducted in April-June 2006 at the University Medical Centre Ljubljana.

False-positive result of a confirmatory human immunodeficiency virus line immuno assay in an apparently healthy individual--a case report.

A case of a false-positive result of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) confirmatory immunoblot-based assay is described. Repeatedly borderline reactive anti-HIV screening enzyme immunoassay result obtained in a local hospital resulted in directing the sample to the Slovenian HIV/AIDS Reference Laboratory. In the Reference Laboratory, both anti-HIV screening assays and confirmatory Western blot were negative, while a confirmatory test INNO-LIA HIV I/II Score (Innogenetics, Ghent, Belgium) was anti-HIV-1 positive due to sgp120 and gp41 reactivity.

Twenty-four mini-pool HCV RNA screening outside a blood transfusion setting: results of a 2-year prospective study.

The usefulness of 24 mini-pool hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA screening was evaluated in a 2-year prospective study carried out on a total of 6432 consecutive anti-HCV negative specimens in a routine diagnostic laboratory setting. A total of 268 mini-pools were tested using an automated commercial PCR assay for qualitative detection of HCV RNA, with a lower limit of detection of 50 IU/ml. Eighteen (0.

Resolving repeatedly borderline results of Hybrid Capture 2 HPV DNA Test using polymerase chain reaction and genotyping.

The Hybrid Capture 2 HPV DNA Test (hc2) (Digene Corporation, Gaithersburg, MD) is at present the only FDA approved assay for routine detection of human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. A significant analytical inaccuracy of the hc2 near to cut-off was reported recently. To address this problem, 240 samples with repeatedly borderline/equivocal/indeterminate hc2 results (samples with repeated RLU/CO values between 0.

Distribution of human papillomavirus genotypes in plucked eyebrow hairs from Slovenian males with genital warts.

In the present study, the presence and distribution of human papillomaviruses (HPVs) in the plucked eyebrow hairs obtained from 49 Slovenian male patients with genital warts were investigated. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with three sets of degenerate primers targeting all known HPV genotypes, HPV DNA was found in 31 (63.3%) of 49 eyebrow hair samples.