Samples from AIDS patients

E3 5. Design a diagnostic test based on the Western blot that would give an indication of infection by the AIDS virus. Assume that a blood serum sample is available from the patient. 

Although the initial perceived need in the hematology laboratory for a flow cytometer was to aid in the rapid processing of samples from leukemic and HIV-positive patients, the presence of the cytometer has... 

Urinary excretion of modified nncleosides, originating from tiansfer-RNA, may be nsed as a biomarker for tnmonrs and AIDS. Dudley et al. [54-57] reported method development for the analysis of urinary nucleosides by LC-MS. Initially, LC-MS conditions were optimized [54]. In positive-ion ESI-MS, detection limits were achieved ranging from 7 pmol for tubercidin to 110 pmol for uridine. Next, a comparison was made between GC-MS, LC-MS on an ion-trap instrament, and capillary LC-MS on a triple-quadmpole instmment [55]. These methods proved complementary rather than that just one could be selected as optimal. Therefore, in the next study [56], all three techniques were applied to identily the unexpected 5 -deoxycytidine in the urine of a patient suffering with head and neck cancer. In another study [57], they demonstrated the detection of dA, 1-methyl-dA, xanthosine, 7V-l-methyl-dG, 7V-2-methyl-dG, 7V-2,7V-2-dimethyl-dG, A-2,7V-2,A-7-trimethyl-dG, inosine, and 1-methylinosine in urine samples from various cancer patients. 

E363 Masson, P., Stensmyr, M. and Hultberg, B. (1987). Clinical chemical analyses of samples from patients with AIDS. Clin. Chem. 33, 188. 

A retrospective study of serum phenytoin levels in a group of 21 patients with AIDS and a large control group of 557 subjects suggested that the concurrent use of clarithromycin (a total of22 samples from at least 10 patients) was associated with higher serum phenytoin levels. The concentra-tion/dose ratio of the phenytoin was 1.6 without clarithromycin and 3.9 with clarithromycin. ... 

A novel XLC-MS-MS (extraction liquid chromatographic + tandem mass spectromehic) technique for the simultaneous measurement of two samples from diluted human plasma samples for the monitoring of HIV/AIDS patient samples. Analysis time 3.3 min detection limit 2-70 ng/ml lower limit of quantification 78-156 ng/ml. Good linearity is achieved in a wide concenhation range (from the lower limit of quantification to 10,000 ng/ml). Intra- and interday precision values 7.5-13.5% (depending on the concentration) accuracy and recovery 86-113 and 60-110%, respectively. The method is useful in routine monitoring. 

Aguila, C. D. P., C. G. Moura, H. Silva, A. J. D. Leitch, G. J. Moss, D. M. Wallace, S. Slemenda, S. B. Peiniazek, N. J. Wisvesvara, G. S. Ultrastructure, immunofluorescence, Western blot, and PCR analysis of eight isolates of Encephalitozoon (Septata) intestinalis established in culture from sputum and urine samples and duodenal aspirates of five patients with AIDS. J. Clin. Microbiol. 1998, 36, 1201-1208. 

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of hospital-acquired infections. It is directly responsible for about 1,000 deaths per annum in the UK, is a contributory factor in many more, and imposes a considerable financial burden on health services. Standard microbiological methods take from 2-4 days to determine the presence of MRSA in clinical samples. This limits the value of testing to the monitoring of infection trends rather than in the provision of information to aid in the treatment of patients. A rapid test could be used both to guide the prescription of antibiotics and to identify patients carrying MRSA as a tool in infection control. 

The variations in human metabolic profiles can seldom permit visual observations of meaningful metabolic deviations from the normal. However, large computer systems do have the general capability to extract the distinct features from large data sets, and reduce the bulk of data from capillary GC of numerous patients to a more easily understandable form. Precisely measured retention characteristics and the peak areas form the basis for such comparisons. Pattern recognition methods have been utilized to classify diabetic samples [169,170] and those of virus-infected patients [171] with the aid of training sets from clinically defined cases. In addition, the feature extraction approach [169,170] permits identification of important metabolite peaks in complex chromatograms. 

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