Enter Mercury, Sleeping: Delivering Prayers on the Early Modern Stage

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Comparison of the Directigen Flu A+B Membrane Enzyme Immunoassay with Viral Culture for Rapid Detection of Influenza A and B Viruses in Respiratory Specimens

The performance of a commercially available, rapid membrane enzyme immunoassay for influenza A and B virus detection was compared to that of viral culture in 4,092 respiratory specimens collected from patients presenting with respiratory symptoms during the 2002-2003 influenza season. The test's overall sensitivity was 43.83%, lower than previously reported but similar for detection of both influenza A and B viruses (42.98 versus 44.76%). However, specificity, 99.74%, was excellent for both influenza A and B viruses (99.82 versus 99.92%). These values make this test a very good confirmatory test when clinical suspicion is high, but a less accurate screening test for large populations

Comparison of a New Neuraminidase Detection Assay with an Enzyme Immunoassay, Immunofluorescence, and Culture for Rapid Detection of Influenza A and B Viruses in Nasal Wash Specimens

The performance of a new, rapid, easy-to-perform assay based on neuraminidase enzyme activity for detection of influenza virus types A and B was compared to detection by culture, indirect immunofluorescence, and enzyme immunoassay in 479 nasal wash specimens from children with respiratory infections. Compared to isolation of influenza virus by culture, the neuraminidase assay had a sensitivity of 70.1%, specificity of 92.4%, positive predictive value of 76.3%, and negative predictive value of 89.9%. There was a higher sensitivity for the detection of influenza A virus (76.4%) than for influenza B virus (40.9%). Indirect immunofluorescence showed a sensitivity of 59.8% and specificity of 97% compared to culture isolation for detection of influenza A and B viruses. Enzyme immunoassay showed a sensitivity of 89.7% and specificity of 98.1% for the detection of influenza A alone. The quality of the nasal wash specimen had a significant effect on the detection of influenza virus by all of the assays. A strong response of the neuraminidase assay was more likely to represent a culture-confirmed influenza infection. This new rapid neuraminidase assay was useful for the detection of influenza A and B viruses in nasal wash specimens

A Method for the Systematic Generation of Audit Logs in a Digital Preservation Environment and Its Experimental Implementation In a Production Ready System

In a digital preservation environment there is a need for a complete auditing of the change of the system state. A complete log ensures that the properties of the objects in the system can be verified. Modern data management systems such as the integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS) allow administrators to configure complex policies. Pre- or post-operation, these policies can trigger other state changing operations. In this paper, we describe a method that allows us - given a complete list of state changing operations - to generate a complete audit log of the system. We also describe an experimental implementation of the framework. An important advantage of our method is that not only do we build on sound theoretical foundations, but we also validate the methodology in a production ready environment which has undergone substantial quality control. The implementation of our method can be distributed as a turnkey solution that is ready to deploy, which significantly shortens the gap between theoretical development and practical applications

Comparison of a New Lateral-Flow Chromatographic Membrane Immunoassay to Viral Culture for Rapid Detection and Differentiation of Influenza A and B Viruses in Respiratory Specimens

The performance of a new rapid lateral-flow chromatographic membrane immunoassay test kit for detection of influenza virus was evaluated and compared to that of viral culture in respiratory secretions collected from 400 adults and children seen at three large university hospitals during the recent 2003 influenza season. The rapid test provided results in 15 min, with excellent overall performance statistics (sensitivity, 94.4%; specificity, 100%; positive predictive value, 100%; negative predictive value, 97.5%). Both influenza A and B type viruses were reliably detected, with no significant difference in performance statistics noted by influenza virus type or by the center performing the test