Development of luminescent serum for diagnostics of animal bacillus anthracix agent

The purpose of the study was to obtain luminescent serum based on highly purified anthracoid globulins to diagnose anthrax agents in animals. To date, there are plenty diagnostic agents that allow rapid and accurate diagnostics of infectious diseases of animals. One of them is the luminescent microscopy of the fluorescent antibody method, which is used as an express method and provides for diagnostics within 3-5 hours. Hyperimmune serum globulins prepared on two types of antigens – protective from strain 55 (VNIIVViM) and capsular from Lange-2 strain at five-fold scheme of introduction of these antigens – were used to make luminescent anthracoid serum. The luminescent serum made on the basis of highly purified anthracoid globulins has a coloring titer (specific activity) of 1:16. When examining the specificity of the obtained luminescent serum in smears from anthrax agent strains, clear fluorescence was observed with more intense luminescence along the periphery of microbial cells.

Relationship between disease severity and D-dimer levels measured with two different methods in pulmonary embolism patients

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is diagnosed with increasing fre- quency nowadays due to advances in the diagnostic methods and the increased awareness of the disease. There is a tenden- cy to use non invasive diagnostic methods for all diseases. D-dimer is a fibrin degradation product. We aimed to detect the relationship between disease severity and the D-dimer levels measured with two different methods. We compared D-dimer levels in cases of massive vs. non-massive PE. A total of 89 patients who were diagnosed between 2006 and 2008 were included in the study. Group 1 included patients whose D-dimer levels were measured with the immunoturbidimetric polyclonal antibody method (D-dimerPLUS®), while Group 2 patients made use of the immunoturbidimetric monoclonal antibody method (InnovanceD-DIMER®). In each group, the D-dimer levels of those with massive and non-massive PE were compared, using the Mann Whitney U test. The mean age of Group 1 (25F/26M) was 56.0 ± 17.9 years, and that of Group 2 (22F/16M) was 52.9 ± 17.9 years. There was no sta- tistical difference in gender and mean age between the two groups (p > 0.05). In Group 1, the mean D-dimer level of mas- sive cases (n = 7) was 1444.9 ± 657.9 μg/L and that of non- massive PE (n = 34) was 1304.7 ± 350.5 μg/L (p > 0.05). In Group 2, the mean D-dimer level of massive cases (n = 6) was 9.7 ± 2.2 mg/L and that of non-massive PE (n = 32) was 5.9 ± 1.3 mg/L (p < 0.05). The mean D-dimer levels of massive cases as measured with the immunoturbidimetric monoclonal anti- body method were significantly higher. Pulmonary embolism patients whose D-dimer levels are higher (especially higher than 6.6 mg/L) should be considered as possibly having massive embolism. Diagnostic procedures and management can be planned according to this finding.