Analytical characteristics and comparative evaluation of Aptima HIV-1 Quant Dx assay with Ampliprep/COBAS TaqMan HIV-1 test v2.0.

Background: Quantitation of HIV-RNA is critically important for diagnosis, prognosis, treatment, monitoring and assessment of infectivity in HIV-1 infection. The objective of this study was to assess performance characteristics of the Aptima HIV-1 Quant Dx assay (Aptima), a new transcription mediated amplification (TMA), fully integrated and automated assay from Hologic Inc., San Diego, CA, USA.

Aptima HIV-1 Quant Dx--A fully automated assay for both diagnosis and quantification of HIV-1.

Background: Separate assays are available for diagnosis and viral load (VL) monitoring of HIV-1. Studies have shown that using a single test for both confirmatory diagnosis and VL increases linkage to care.

Objective: To validate a single assay for both diagnosis and VL monitoring of HIV-1 on the fully automated Panther platform.

Early-life experience alters response of developing brain to seizures.

Prolonged seizures during childhood are associated with behavior problems, memory impairment and school failure. No effective treatment currently exists after seizures to mitigate neuronal injury and long-term neurological sequelae for children with epilepsy. We studied the therapeutic efficacy of early-life environment on seizure-induced behavioral deficits, neuronal injury and the inflammatory reaction using the kainic acid (KA) seizure model.