Levy bd

Persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is an essential factor of cervical cancer. This study evaluated the analytical performance of restriction fragment length polymorphism polymerase chain reaction (PCR-RFLP) assay compared to PapilloCheck® microarray to identify human papilloma virus (HPV) in cervical cells. Three hundred and twenty-five women were analyzed. One sample was used for conventional cytology and another sample was collected using BD SurePath™ kit for HPV tests. Eighty samples (24...

We developed a protocol for isolating the amphibian chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) from anurans. We sampled skin tissues from 2 common treefrogs, Pseudacris regilla and P. triseriata, collected from populations with high infection prevalence. We sampled tissues from 3 anatomical ventral regions (thigh, abdomen, and foot) where the pathogen is thought to concentrate. To mitigate potential bacterial contamination, we used a unique combination of 4 antibiotics. We quantified infections on frogs as zoospore equivalents (ZE) using a swabbing approach combined with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction...

A DNA microarray platform, based on the nucleotide sequences of the internal transcribed spacer regions (ITS1, ITS2) of the rRNA gene, was developed to identify 32 fungal pathogens at the species level. The probe sequences were spotted onto polycarbonate slides with a mini-microarray printer, and after the hybridization, the results were visible with the naked eye. The performance of the microarray platform was evaluated against the commercial automated systems (Vitek ® 2 and BD Phoenix™ systems) and DNA sequencing (gold standard)...

A number of biomarkers were assessed in photos and prints of the hands of 95 patients with a variety of mental disorders to determine whether patients with schizophrenia could be distinguished from the others. Patients were recruited as consecutive admissions from an outpatient psychiatric day hospital population. Fourteen patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder and 81 were diagnosed with other mental disorders. A discriminant analysis yielded an overall 80% correct classification, with a sensitivity (schizophrenia patients identified correctly) of 78...

OBJECTIVES: Due to limited research on the association between recurrence of mood episodes and the longitudinal course of neurocognitive functioning in early phase bipolar I disorder (BD I), the impact of recurrence on neurocognition remains unclear. Further, a strong correlation between neurocognitive impairment and functional impairment has been demonstrated. The longitudinal relationship between neurocognitive impairment and functional outcome in relation to recurrence is, however, not established...

BACKGROUND: Identifying clinical features that predict conversion to bipolar disorder (BD) in those at high familial risk (HR) would assist in identifying a more focused population for early intervention. METHOD: In total 287 participants aged 12-30 (163 HR with a first-degree relative with BD and 124 controls (CONs)) were followed annually for a median of 5 years. We used the baseline presence of DSM-IV depressive, anxiety, behavioural and substance use disorders, as well as a constellation of specific depressive symptoms (as identified by the Probabilistic Approach to Bipolar Depression) to predict the subsequent development of hypo/manic episodes...

Rare nonfermenting Gram-negative bacilli, such as Chryseobacterium indologenes and Elizabethkingia meningoseptica, have clinical importance in nosocomial infections and cystic fibrosis (CF), and their identification is a challenge to microbiology laboratories. Thus, the objective of this study was to verify the performance of phenotypic and mass spectrometry (matrix-assisted desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry, MALDI-TOF MS) methods to identify C. indologenes and E. meningoseptica. In this context, the results obtained with phenotypic methods-namely manual biochemical and automated VITEK 2 (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) and Phoenix tests (Becton Dickinson (BD), San Diego, CA, USA)-and by MALDI-TOF MS-namely MALDI-TOF VITEK MS (MALDI-MS; bioMérieux) and MALDI-TOF BioTyper (MALDI-BD; BD)-of 22 isolates (blood cultures of patients with nosocomial infection (n = 15) and from patients with CF (n = 7)), initially identified as C...

BACKGROUND: Invasive cervical cancer (ICC) is the third most common malignant neoplasm affecting Brazilian women. Little is known about the impact of specific HPV genotypes in the prognosis of ICC. We hypothesized that HPV genotype would impact ICC clinical presentation and survival. METHODS: Women diagnosed with ICC at the Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo (ICESP) between May 2008 and June 2012 were included in the study and were followed until December 2015...

OBJECTIVES: Mood stabilizers administered for bipolar disorder during pregnancy, such as valproic acid, can increase the risk of congenital anomalies in offspring. Valnoctamide is a valproic acid derivative associated with a decreased risk for congenital abnormalities in animals. The present study evaluated the efficacy and safety of valnoctamide monotherapy, compared to placebo, in the treatment of patients in an acute manic episode. METHODS: A 3-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo- and risperidone-controlled, parallel group trial was conducted on 173 patients in an acute manic episode...

Thought disorder (TD) has long been associated with schizophrenia (SZ) and is now widely recognized as a symptom of mania and other psychotic disorders as well. Previous studies have suggested that the TD found in the clinically unaffected relatives of SZ, schizoaffective and bipolar probands is qualitatively similar to that found in the probands themselves. Here, we examine which quantitative measures of TD optimize the distinction between patients with diagnoses of SZ and bipolar disorder with psychotic features (BP) from nonpsychiatric controls (NC) and from each other...

Neurocognitive impairment has been found to be a marked feature in bipolar disorder (BD), also in the early phase of the illness. The longitudinal course of neurocognitive functioning, however, remains sparsely investigated. The aims of the study were to investigate the course of neurocognitive function in BD I, and to what degree neurocognitive change or stability is observed also on the individual level. Forty-two patients and 153 comparable healthy controls were assessed at baseline and one-year follow-up...

BACKGROUND: Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by a dysregulation of affect and impaired integration of emotion with cognition. These traits are also expressed in probands at high genetic risk of BD. The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is a key cortical hub in the circuits of emotion and cognitive control, and it has been frequently associated with BD. Here, we studied resting-state functional connectivity of the left IFG in participants with BD and in those at increased genetic risk...

Emerging evidence suggests that psychiatric disorders are associated with disturbances in structural brain networks. Little is known, however, about brain networks in those at high risk (HR) of bipolar disorder (BD), with such disturbances carrying substantial predictive and etiological value. Whole-brain tractography was performed on diffusion-weighted images acquired from 84 unaffected HR individuals with at least one first-degree relative with BD, 38 young patients with BD and 96 matched controls (CNs) with no family history of mental illness...

There is little knowledge about the role of the duration of untreated bipolar (DUB) illness in first-treatment bipolar disorder I (BD I), its association with symptoms at start of first treatment, and development over the first year, and limited knowledge about factors that influence the length of DUB. Substance use has shown to delay identification of primary psychiatric disorders, and while cannabis use is common in BD the role of cannabis in relationship to DUB is unclear. The aim of the present study is to examine the associations between DUB and key clinical outcomes at baseline in BD I, and at one year follow-up, and to evaluate the influence of cannabis use...

OBJECTIVE: Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder is a newly proposed childhood disorder included in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition to describe children ⩽18 years of age with chronic irritability/temper outbursts. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, severe mood dysregulation and chronic irritability in an Australian study of young people at increased familial risk of developing bipolar disorder ('HR' group) and controls ('CON' group)...

OBJECTIVE: To determine accuracy of 2012 International Consensus Guidelines (ICG) predicting malignancy in a surgical cohort of branch-duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (BD-IPMN). METHODS: This study included all consecutive patients with final pathological diagnosis of pure BD-IPMN resected between 2006 and 2014 at Beaujon Hospital. Neoplasms were classified as malignant in presence of high-grade dysplasia (HGD) or invasive carcinoma. Medical, pathological, and radiological data were retrospectively recorded...

Patients suffering from severe mental illness (SMI) are considered especially vulnerable to stress. In this study, their use of acute stress services in a military context affecting civilian populations was assessed, using naturally occurring data. The proportion of patients with a previously known SMI, defined as any chronic psychotic disorder or bipolar disorder, among all civilians examined at a center for treatment of stress during a military conflict versus at the ER in usual times, was compared, using the Chi square statistical test...

BACKGROUND: White matter (WM) impairments have been reported in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and those at high familial risk of developing BD. However, the distribution of these impairments has not been well characterized. Few studies have examined WM integrity in young people early in the course of illness and in individuals at familial risk who have not yet passed the peak age of onset. METHOD: WM integrity was examined in 63 BD subjects, 150 high-risk (HR) individuals and 111 participants with no family history of mental illness (CON)...

IMPORTANCE: Complex disorders, such as bipolar disorder (BD), likely result from the influence of both common and rare susceptibility alleles. While common variation has been widely studied, rare variant discovery has only recently become feasible with next-generation sequencing. OBJECTIVE: To utilize a combined family-based and case-control approach to exome sequencing in BD using multiplex families as an initial discovery strategy, followed by association testing in a large case-control meta-analysis...

OBJECTIVES: We sought to compare serum carnitine levels and clinical correlates between stable outpatients and acutely hospitalised individuals with diagnoses of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. METHODS: We obtained clinical information as well as serum levels for total and free carnitine, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and triglycerides in 60 consenting individuals. RESULTS: We found higher total serum carnitine levels in our outpatient group in comparison to acutely hospitalised psychiatric patients, with a statistically significant P value of 0...