Co-infected patients, however, have some inherent characteristics (deficient immune status, high HCV-RNA concentrations, particular genotype distribution, low response to antiviral therapy) that make the interpretation of such assays slightly different.
Practical diagnostic applications of such assays demonstrated in this study include: (1) rapid genotype determination of isolates; and (2) identification of mixed-genotype isolates originating from pooled samples in areas where genotype distribution is known to overlap.
The results further suggest that sequence defined antibodies with specificities thoroughly controlled by flow cytometry and genetic antigen-defective mutants or knockouts can substantially reduce the risk of misleading, false-positive results in whole mount imaging and other assays, and thus can improve the scientific value of such assays.
This review evaluates the current state of the science in the development of such assays, identifies key gaps in the current tests, and recommends areas where research efforts may be focused to help move the risk assessment community towards more wide-spread use of in vitro methods.
An optimised test designed for an in vitro monocyte activation test for pro-inflammatory and pyrogenic contaminants of parenteral drugs is described, together with ways to address the inherent variability of such assays in which cells are cultured using 96-well plates.
High rates of MDR TB in the Russian Federation make the introduction of such assays particularly useful.
The use of such assays would confer the same advantage currently only available to drug screening against blood stage parasites [19].
Data presented here emphasize that measurements apoptosis in isolated cell subsets deviate significantly from their behavior in mixed cultures, a feature that reflects a limited capacity of such assays to generate insights into physiological and pathological conditions.
Drew and Reece [34] developed a qRT-PCR assay for the quantification of sex ratios in P. chabaudi, however the extended maturation of P. falciparum gametocytes over many days means the relative abundance of sex-specific mRNA through development must be characterised prior to calibration of such assays against microscopic data.
