Evaluation of a lateral-flow nanoparticle fluorescence assay for TB infection diagnosis.

Programmatic management of TB infection is a critical component of the WHO End TB Strategy. Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) overcome some limitations of the tuberculin skin test, but implementation of IGRA testing in low-resource settings is challenging. In this feasibility study, we evaluated performance of a novel digital lateral-flow assay, the QIAreach QuantiFERON TB (QIAreach-QFT) test, against the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) assay.

Nanomechanical Sensing Using Spins in Diamond.

Nanomechanical sensors and quantum nanosensors are two rapidly developing technologies that have diverse interdisciplinary applications in biological and chemical analysis and microscopy. For example, nanomechanical sensors based upon nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) have demonstrated chip-scale mass spectrometry capable of detecting single macromolecules, such as proteins. Quantum nanosensors based upon electron spins of negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have demonstrated diverse modes of nanometrology, including single molecule magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Fibronectin in acute and chronic inflammation.

Recent evidence suggests that fibronectin (Fn), a high molecular weight glycoprotein, may be used as an indicator protein in rats with adjuvant-induced arthritis. Rocket immunoelectrophoresis, using purified goat anti-rat Fn, provided a specific and sensitive means of measuring plasma Fn in rats during the development of various inflammatory disease states. It was shown that normal rat plasma Fn levels of approximately 400 micrograms/ml double within 24 hours after injection of adjuvant.

Effect of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs upon cellular and fibronectin responses in a pleurisy model.

Intrapleural injections of carrageenan into rats resulted in peak increases in intrapleural inflammatory cell counts (90% mononuclear cells) and fibronectin content at 3 days after the injections. Administration of disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) prevented the increases in both fibronectin levels and intrapleural cell counts, whereas nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, in general, potentiated the increases. Inhibition of fibronectin production by DMARD in carrageenan induced pleurisy in rats may be related to the antirheumatic activity of this class of drugs.

The effect of antiinflammatory drugs on plasma fibronectin.

When rats were injected with Freund's adjuvant to induce arthritis, systemic disease as measured by swelling of the noninjected paw, was paralleled by a 100% rise in plasma fibronectin as measured by electroimmunoassay. When arthritic rats were given daily oral doses of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAID), swelling of the noninjected rear paw was significantly less than that of the untreated arthritic controls. However, in all cases, plasma fibronectin (Fn) levels remained high in drug treated arthritic rats.