Compared with more labour intensive (and therefore more expensive) screening activities conducted over a 6-month period, offering a small financial incentive to tertiary students through text messaging over a 4-day period significantly increased participation in on-campus chlamydia screening. This model could readily be applied to other populations to increase participation in chlamydia screening.

The accuracy and cost savings of pooling specimens prior to testing for Chlamydia trachomatis by PCR were evaluated with genital and urine specimens (n ‫؍‬ 2,600). There was a 60% reduction in tests without significant loss of accuracy. The efficiency of pooling vaginal swabs is demonstrated for the first time.Nucleic acid amplification tests, although sensitive and specific, are expensive. Acceptable accuracy and cost savings have been demonstrated by pooling urine and pooling endocervical specimens to detect Chlamydia trachomatis (1-9), but we are not aware of any studies testing pooled vaginal swabs. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and cost savings associated with pooling vaginal swabs as well as endocervical swabs and urine specimens for the detection of C. trachomatis by PCR.All genital swabs and urine specimens sent to a large hospital-based laboratory over a 3-month period were tested individually and in pools of five. This pool size is consistent with other studies and was considered likely to maximize savings without significantly compromising sensitivity in our population. On receipt in the laboratory, individual specimens were processed and tested the following working day in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions (Roche Diagnostics Systems). Sixty percent of urine specimens and a small percentage of genital swabs were stored at Ϫ20°C for 1 to 4 weeks prior to pooling. Frozen specimens were thawed, pooled, and tested on the same day. One-hundred-microliter aliquots from each processed swab were combined to create pools of five, and 50 l of this was amplified. One-hundred-microliter aliquots from each unprocessed urine specimen were combined in pools of five and processed, and 50 l of the processed pool sample was amplified.Specimens were considered positive if the absorbance at 660 nm was Ն0.8 and the absorbance for the internal control was Ն2. All pools and 50% of the individually tested specimens included internal controls. When a pool was positive, all individual samples were retested the next working day to identify the positive specimen(s). Specimens testing negative in the pool were deemed negative in the presence of a positive internal control. Specimens from pools presumed to be inhibited (i.e., a negative internal control) were retested individually. Inhibited individual specimens were diluted 1:10 and retested the next working day. All individual and pooled specimens were retested if the results were discrepant.We compared the accuracy of the PCR test with the pooled and individually tested specimens and calculated 95% confidence intervals (Stata Statistical Software, Release 7; Stat Corporation, College Station, Tex.). We compared inhibition rates for pooled specimens with present laboratory inhibition rates, as internal controls are now included in all tests.Cost savings attributable to pooling were calculated by using normal laboratory procedures (individual testing plus reflex testing of positive, inhibited, and equivocal tests) as the baseline. Analyzed elem...

Summary. The role of the MDR1 and MRP genes in drug resistance in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL)/non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is unclear. We hypothesized that any relationship between levels of expression and exposure to P-glycoprotein (P-gp) transportable drugs may become evident by using a measure of gene expression that combined the number of positive cells and the degree of positivity. 68 CLL/NHL patients were analysed using flow cytometry with MDR1 and MRP specific antibodies and were divided into subgroups, untreated (n ¼ 31), treated with non P-gp transportable drugs (n ¼ 26), those treated with low total doses of P-gp transportable drugs (n ¼ 6) and patients treated with high total doses of P-gp transportable drugs (n ¼ 5). The group exposed to high doses of P-gp transportable drugs had higher levels of MDR1 expression when compared to all other groups (P < 0·05, ANOVA). A positive correlation between the level of MDR1 expression and the cumulative dose of P-gp transportable drugs was demonstrated (P ¼ 0·02). MRP expression was higher in those patients exposed to high doses of P-gp transportable drugs when compared to all other groups (P < 0·05, ANOVA), although only a trend towards a linear dose correlation effect could be established (P ¼ 0·08). We concluded that MDR1 and MRP are involved in drug resistance but only in patients treated with P-gp transportable drugs.

Although amplifiable DNA can be extracted from both fresh-frozen and FFDPE trephine samples for IgH/IgL analysis, freshly frozen specimens are superior as a source of template DNA, especially for higher base pair PCR products.

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