HIV Prevention for Black Heterosexual Men: The Barbershop Talk with Brothers Cluster Randomized Trial.

To identify the impact of a strengths-focused HIV prevention program among high-risk heterosexual Black men. Barbershops in Brooklyn, New York, neighborhoods with high rates of heterosexually transmitted HIV were randomized to the intervention or an attention control program. Men were recruited from barbershops between 2012 and 2016 and participated in a single small group, peer-led session focused on HIV risk reduction skills and motivation, community health empowerment, and identification of personal strengths and communication skills.

Utility of the Abbott RealTime HCV Genotype Plus RUO assay used in combination with the Abbott RealTime HCV Genotype II assay.

Background: Hepatitis virus C (HCV) genotype (GT) determination and subtype (ST) differentiation (1a versus 1b) remain important for the selection of appropriate direct-acting antiviral (DAA) therapy.

Objectives: This study is a retrospective comparison of HCV GT and ST result distribution when using the Abbott RealTime HCV Genotype II assay (HCVGT II) alone and in combination with the Abbott RealTime HCV Genotype Plus RUO assay (HCVGT Plus) for routine testing of clinical serum specimens at a reference laboratory.

Study Design: HCVGT II results of specimens tested from June 2014 through January 2016 (period 1) were compared with combined results from HCVGT II and HCVGT Plus (HCVGT II/Plus) performed from January 2016 through January 2017 (period 2).

The cobas® 6800/8800 System: a new era of automation in molecular diagnostics.

Molecular diagnostics is a key component of laboratory medicine. Here, the authors review key triggers of ever-increasing automation in nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT) with a focus on specific automated Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) testing and platforms such as the recently launched cobas® 6800 and cobas® 8800 Systems. The benefits of such automation for different stakeholders including patients, clinicians, laboratory personnel, hospital administrators, payers, and manufacturers are described.

Adoption of lean principles in a high-volume molecular diagnostic microbiology laboratory.

Clinical laboratories are constantly facing challenges to do more with less, enhance quality, improve test turnaround time, and reduce operational expenses. Experience with adopting and applying lean concepts and tools used extensively in the manufacturing industry is described for a high-volume clinical molecular microbiology laboratory, illustrating how operational success and benefits can be achieved.

A case series of clozapine for borderline personality disorder.

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common, debilitating disorder for which the evidence base for treatment is modest. This case series aimed to explore preliminary evidence of clozapine's effectiveness for patients with severe BPD.

Methods: We examined the case notes of 22 female inpatients with a primary diagnosis of BPD who had started treatment with clozapine.

Comparison of 3 accelerometer data reduction approaches, step counts, and 2 self-report measures for estimating physical activity in free-living adults.

Background: Accelerometers have become one of the most common methods of measuring physical activity (PA). Thus, validity of accelerometer data reduction approaches remains an important research area. Yet, few studies directly compare data reduction approaches and other PA measures in free-living samples.

Hepatitis C virus genotypes in clinical specimens tested at a national reference testing laboratory in the United States.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype (GT) distribution and frequency were studied among 22,407 unique specimens tested at a national reference testing laboratory. Subjects with HCV GT 3 were younger (P < 0.0001) than those with GT 1, 2, or 4, and the regional frequencies of HCV GT 2 and 3 ranged from 19.

Anomalous quantitation standard growth curves in a laboratory-developed hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA quantification assay using the TaqMan HCV analyte-specific reagent.

A retrospective examination of quantitation standard growth curves associated with 1,000 unique clinical serum specimens tested by a laboratory-developed TaqMan hepatitis C virus analyte-specific reagent-based assay revealed anomalous growth curves associated with 0.40% (95% confidence interval, 0.11% to 1.

Comparison of the Abbott realtime human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) assay to the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HIV-1 test: workflow, reliability, and direct costs.

The Abbott RealTime human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) assay (ART) and the Cobas AmpliPrep/Cobas TaqMan HIV-1 test (CTM) are commercially available assays for quantification of HIV-1 RNA in plasma. We evaluated performance characteristics, workflow, throughput, reliability, and direct costs of these assays. Both assays yielded good correlation of quantitative results (r = 0.

Investigation of hypromellose particle size effects on drug release from sustained release hydrophilic matrix tablets.

Selected combinations of six model drugs and four hypromellose (USP 2208) viscosity grades were studied utilizing direct compression and in vitro dissolution testing. Experimental HPMC samples with differing particle size distributions (coarse, fine, narrow, bimodal) were generated by sieving. For some formulations, the impact of HPMC particle size changes was characterized by faster drug release and an apparent shift in drug release mechanism when less than 50% of the HPMC passed through a 230 mesh (63 microm) screen.

A framework to investigate drug release variability arising from hypromellose viscosity specifications in controlled release matrix tablets.

Substitution level, particle size, and molecular weight are key properties of hypromellose (HPMC) known to be important to its performance in pharmaceutical-controlled release applications. The hypromellose monographs indirectly specify acceptable ranges for the molecular weight of HPMC products, expressed as the apparent viscosity of a 2% aqueous solution. The purpose of this study was to provide a framework to systematically investigate the amount of drug release variability that might be expected for typical controlled release formulations over the monograph viscosity ranges for hypromellose.

Impact of the COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR Test, Version 1.5, on clinical laboratory operations.

The COBAS AmpliPrep/COBAS AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR Test, version 1.5 (CAP/CA), and the COBAS AMPLICOR HIV-1 MONITOR Test, version 1.5, were compared.

Detection of HIV-1 proviral DNA with the AMPLICOR HIV-1 DNA Test, version 1.5, following sample processing by the MagNA Pure LC instrument.

Background: The AMPLICOR HIV-1 DNA Test, version 1.5 (AMP HIV-1 DNA 1.5), is a new commercially available PCR assay for the detection of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) proviral DNA in human whole blood.

Quantification of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA with a TaqMan HBV analyte-specific reagent following sample processing with the MagNA pure LC instrument.

TaqMan hepatitis B virus (HBV) analyte-specific reagent (ASR; Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., Branchburg, NJ) is designed for the quantification of HBV DNA in serum or plasma. The performance characteristics of TaqMan HBV ASR following automated sample processing with the MagNA Pure LC instrument (MP; Roche Applied Science, Indianapolis, IN) were evaluated in this study.

Evaluation of the invader assay for genotyping hepatitis C virus.

The Invader 1.0 assay (Invader HCV Genotyping Assay, version 1.0; Third Wave Technologies, Inc.

Evaluation of the MagNA Pure LC used with the TRUGENE HBV Genotyping Kit.

Background: The current manual sample processing method recommended for use with the TRUGENE HBV Genotyping Kit (TRUGENE HBV; Bayer HealthCare LLC, Tarrytown, NY) is labor-intensive and may be prone to specimen cross-contamination. Recent evaluations of the MagNA Pure LC (MP; Roche Applied Science, Indianapolis, IN) suggest that it is suitable for automated, contamination-free extraction and purification of viral nucleic acids from large-volume (1.0 mL) serum or plasma specimens.

Evaluation of the COBAS TaqMan HCV test with automated sample processing using the MagNA pure LC instrument.

The COBAS TaqMan HCV Test (TaqMan HCV; Roche Molecular Systems Inc., Branchburg, N.J.

Automated sample preparation for the TRUGENE HIV-1 genotyping kit using the MagNA pure LC instrument.

Use of the MagNA Pure LC Total Nucleic Acid Isolation Kit-Large Volume in conjunction with the TRUGENE HIV-1 Genotyping Kit yielded consistent, interpretable sequence data from 1-mL plasma preparations containing HIV-1 RNA concentrations of > or =400 copies/mL. This finding was confirmed in 18 of 24 low-titer clinical specimens.

Role of the basolateral amygdala in the storage of fear memories across the adult lifetime of rats.

The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is intimately involved in the development of conditional fear. Converging lines of evidence support a role for this region in the storage of fear memory but do not rule out a time-limited role in the memory consolidation. To examine this issue, we assessed the stability of BLA contribution to fear memories acquired across the adult lifetime of rats.

Clinical spectrum and laboratory characteristics associated with detection of herpes simplex virus DNA in cerebrospinal fluid.

Objective: To determine the clinical, neurologic, and laboratory characteristics of patients with herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 (HSV-1) or HSV type 2 (HSV-2) DNA detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with use of polymerase chain reaction.

Patients And Methods: Clinical, laboratory, and demographic data were determined from 249 CSF specimens (collected from 247 patients >10 years of age) that tested positive for HSV-1 or HSV-2 DNA at the Mayo Clinic from January 1999 to August 2000.

Results: The median age of the 200 patients whose age was available was 70 years vs 40 years for those with HSV-1 or HSV-2 DNA in CSF, respectively.

Evaluation of the TRUGENE HCV 5'NC genotyping kit with the new GeneLibrarian module 3.1.2 for genotyping of hepatitis C virus from clinical specimens.

The TRUGENE HCV 5'NC genotyping kit (GeneLibrarian modules 3.1.1 and 3.

Evaluation of the MagNA pure LC instrument for extraction of hepatitis C virus RNA for the COBAS AMPLICOR Hepatitis C Virus Test, version 2.0.

The COBAS AMPLICOR system has played a major role in the transition of molecular diagnostics from research to routine clinical laboratory use by automating the nucleic acid amplification and detection processes. However, sample preparation remains a labor-intensive portion of the procedure. In this study, we evaluated the performance of the COBAS AMPLICOR Hepatitis C Virus Test, version 2.

Analysis of probabilistic classification learning in patients with Parkinson's disease before and after pallidotomy surgery.

This study examined the characteristics of probabilistic classification learning, a form of implicit learning previously shown to be impaired in patients with basal ganglia dysfunction (e.g., Parkinson's disease).

A simple PDMS-based electro-fluidic interface for microchip electrophoretic separations.

High voltage electrodes for electrophoresis have been integrated into a polymer layer that can be reversibly bound to glass microchips for electrophoretic separations. By using the liquid precursor to the polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), platinum electrodes and reservoirs can be positioned prior to solidification, providing a simple and flexible method for electrode interface construction. Field strengths up to 875 V cm(-1) over an 8 cm separation channel can be applied to the system without any loss in performance of the interface.

A compaction process to enhance dissolution of poorly water-soluble drugs using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose.

The purpose of this study was to develop a technique to enhance the dissolution rate of poorly water-soluble drugs with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) without the use of solvent or heat addition. Three poorly water-soluble drugs, naproxen, nifedipine, and carbamazepine, were studied with low-viscosity HPMC USP Type 2208 (K3LV), HPMC USP Type 2910 (E3LV and E5LV), and methylcellulose. Polymer and drug were dry-blended, compressed into slugs on a tablet press or into ribbons on a roller compactor, and then milled into a granular powder.