8 research outputs found
Image Analysis Confirmation of DNA Aneuploidy in Flow Cytometric DNA Distributions Having a Wide Coefficient of Variation of the GO/G1 Peak
Prevalence of specific IgG-antibodies against Toxoplasma gondii in domestic turkeys determined by kinetic ELISA based on recombinant GRA7 and GRA8.
International audienceThe protozoan parasite Toxoplasma (T.) gondii is one of the most common zoonotic infectious agents worldwide. Besides its sexual reproduction in cats, T. gondii can also infect a wide spectrum of other warm-blooded animals. These include animals used for human consumption such as pigs or chickens. Nevertheless, the role of turkeys for the epidemiology of T. gondii infections has not been studied thoroughly. We have established a kinetic ELISA (KELA) for the detection of T. gondii-specific IgG antibodies in turkey serum samples. The test is based on the recombinant dense granule antigens GRA7 and GRA8. These proteins were used as an antigen mixture at a concentration of 0.13 μg per well. The overall sensitivity of the assay was between 92.6% and 100% and the specificity ranged from 78.1% to 100%, depending on the method used to calculate these parameters. Using this KELA we examined 1913 turkey serum samples from 14 turkey farms from different areas of Germany. From these sera, 387 produced a signal in the KELA, corresponding to a true seroprevalence of up to 20.2%. The seropositivity rate in individual fattening cycles at individual farms ranged from 0.0% to 77.1%, whereas the rates were highly variable within the individual farms and individual fattening cycles. Consequently, conditions of animal husbandry could not be associated with particular seroprevalence rates. Although seropositivity cannot be linked directly to infectious tissue cysts in the muscle tissue of commercially produced turkey meat, we state that there is a potential risk of being infected by consuming turkey meat products that were not heat treated
Development of an in vivo model for Toxoplasma gondii infections in chickens and turkeys simulating natural routes of infection
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Educating Medical Students in Laboratory Medicine A Proposed Curriculum
As the 100th anniversary of the Flexner report nears, medical student education is being reviewed at many levels One area of concern, expressed in recent reports from some national health care organizations is the adequacy of training in the discipline of laboratory medicine (also termed clinical pathology) The Academy of Clinical Laboratory Physicians and Scientists is appointed an ad hoc committee to review this topic and to develop a suggested curriculum, which was subsequently forwarded to the entire membership for review The proposed medical student laboratory medicine curriculum defines goals and objectives for training, provides guidelines for instructional methods, and gives examples of how outcomes can be assessed. This curriculum is presented as a potentially helpful outline for use by medical school faculty and curriculum committees