Evaluation of six immunoassays for detection of dengue virus-specific immunoglobulin M and G antibodies

The performance of six commercially available immunoassay systems for the detection of dengue virus-specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and IgG antibodies in serum was evaluated. These included two IgM and IgG enzyme immunoassays (EIA) from MRL Laboratories and PanBio, a rapid immunochromatographic test (RIT) from PanBio, immunofluorescence assays (IFA) from Progen, a dot blot assay from Genelabs, and a dipstick EIA from Integrated Diagnostics (INDX). For this study a panel of 132 serum samples, including 90 serum samples from patients with suspected dengue virus infection and 42 serum samples from patients with other viral infections, was used. In addition, serial serum samples from two monkeys experimentally immunized and challenged with dengue virus type 2 were used. Results were considered conclusive when concordant results were obtained with four of the six antibody-specific assays. Based on this definition, the calculated overall agreement for the human serum samples for the respective IgM immunoassays was 97% (128 of 132), with 34% (45 of 132) positive serum samples, 63% (83 of 132) negative samples, and 3% of samples (4 of 132) showing discordant results. The calculated overall agreement for the IgG assays was 94% (124 of 132), with 49% (65 of 132) positive, 45% (59 of 132) negative, and 6% (8 of 132) discordant results, respectively. The sensitivities of the dengue virus-specific assays evaluated varied between 71 and 100% for IgM and between 52 and 100% for IgG, with specificities of 86 to 96% and 8

Early life stress determines the effects of glucocorticoids and stress on hippocampal function:Electrophysiological and behavioral evidence respectively

Exposure to early-life adversity may program brain function to prepare individuals for adaptation to matching environmental contexts. In this study we tested this hypothesis in more detail by examining the effects of early-life stress - induced by raising offspring with limited nesting and bedding material from postnatal days 2-9 - in various behavioral tasks and on synaptic function in adult mice. Early-life stress impaired adult performance in the hippocampal dependent low-arousing object-in-context recognition memory task. This effect was absent when animals were exposed to a single stressor before training. Early-life stress did not alter high-arousing context and auditory fear conditioning. Early-life stress-induced behavioral modifications were not associated with alterations in the dendritic architecture of hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons or principal neurons of the basolateral amygdala. However, early-life stress reduced the ratio of NMDA to AMPA receptor-mediated excitatory postsynaptic currents and glutamate release probability specifically in hippocampal CA1 neurons, but not in the basolateral amygdala. These ex vivo effects in the hippocampus were abolished by acute glucocorticoid treatment. Our findings support that early-life stress can hamper object-in-context learning via pre- and post synaptic mechanisms that affect hippocampal function but these effects are counteracted by acute stress or elevated glucocorticoid levels. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Ltd

Separation and Determination of Fatty Acids from Lipid Fractions by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography: Cholesterol Esters of Umbilical Cord Arteries

Preeclampsia is accompanied by an extensive remodeling of the extracellular matrix of umbilical cord. It is associated with an increase in collagen content in the umbilical cord artery. Furthermore, preeclampsia distinctly reduces proteolytic and gelatinolytic activity, especially after activation with various agents

Dengue-1 Envelope Protein Domain III along with PELC and CpG Oligodeoxynucleotides Synergistically Enhances Immune Responses

The major weaknesses of subunit vaccines are their low immunogenicity and poor efficacy. Adjuvants can help to overcome some of these inherent defects with subunit vaccines. Here, we evaluated the efficacy of the newly developed water-in-oil-in-water multiphase emulsion system, termed PELC, in potentiating the protective capacity of dengue-1 envelope protein domain III. Unlike aluminum phosphate, dengue-1 envelope protein domain III formulated with PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides induced neutralizing antibodies against dengue-1 virus and increased the splenocyte secretion of IFN-γ after in vitro re-stimulation. The induced antibodies contained both the IgG1 and IgG2a subclasses. A rapid anamnestic neutralizing antibody response against a live dengue virus challenge was elicited at week 26 after the first immunization. These results demonstrate that PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides broaden the dengue-1 envelope protein domain III-specific immune responses. PELC plus CpG oligodeoxynucleotides is a promising adjuvant for recombinant protein based vaccination against dengue virus

Innovatiepolitiek: Een reconstructie van het innovatiebeleid van het ministerie van Economische Zaken van 1976 tot en met 2010

Beleid is zelden het resultaat van rationele overwegingen. Dat geldt ook voor het innovatiebeleid dat het ministerie van Economische Zaken van 1976 tot en met 2010 uitvoerde. Evert-Jan Velzing reconstrueert in Innovatiepolitiek het innovatiebeleid dan ook vanuit drie perspectieven. Hij vult het rationele perspectief aan met een analyse over de invloed van de organisatie zelf en van de betrokken externe belanghebbenden. Innovatiepolitiek geeft de lezer zodoende helder inzicht in het verloop van deze boeiende geschiedenis. Door verschillende perspectieven te hanteren zijn de ontwikkelingen beter te begrijpen en is het mogelijk om in zeven hoofdlijnen duidelijke conclusies te trekken. Velzing concludeert dat moet worden ingezet op een permanent en gefundeerd innovatiebeleid. Met een actieve rol kan een slimme overheid een aanjager van innovatie zijn