Recently, interferon-c release assays (IGRA) for specific diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection have become available. In recent UK tuberculosis (TB) guidelines, it has been advised to screen for latent M. tuberculosis infection using the tuberculin skin test (TST), followed by IGRA if the TST is positive. Since TST can boost immune responses to tuberculin, the present authors evaluated whether TST administration affects the result of QuantiFERON1-TB Gold in-tube (QFT-GIT), a whole blood-based IGRA.QFT-GIT was performed on the day of TST administration and the day of reading in 15 TSTnegative subjects, 46 TST-positive subjects with recent or remote exposure to M. tuberculosis and five cured TB patients.No systematic boosting of QFT-GIT responses from negative to positive was observed. Only in a few TST-positive persons did TST enhance pre-existing QFT-GIT responses.Screening for latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection using tuberculin skin testing followed by interferon-c release assays on the day of reading is a reliable approach, as the specificity of QuantiFERON1-TB Gold in-tube is not affected by prior tuberculin skin test administration.

The discovery of the Philadelphia chromosome and its consistent involvement in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) was the first time that a relationship between a cytogenetic abnormality and malignancy was demonstrated. This review will try to provide an insight into the molecular mechanisms underlying this disease and outline the therapeutical options for patients with CML.

A high percentage of pleural effusions remain unexplained despite an intensive diagnostic workup. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infections occur worldwide and affect the majority of the population. The present study investigated the prevalence and clinical relevance of EBV in pleural effusions.A prospective study was performed in which 60 consecutive patients with pleural effusion were enrolled. Real-time quantitative EBV-PCR was performed on pleural fluid and serum. Pleural fluid was further evaluated using standard biochemical, cytological and microbiological procedures. Demographic data, medical history and medication were recorded.A total of 24 (40%), from 60 pleural fluids tested, were positive in the EBV-PCR. Median EBV-DNA levels for positive samples was 454 genome equivalents (geq)?mL -1 (range 36-163,446 geq?mL -1 ). A total of 20 (59%) out of 34 unexplained pleural effusions were EBV-PCR positive.Serological analysis of all patients with a positive PCR revealed a previous infection. Patients with a positive EBV-PCR on pleural fluid were more likely to have a positive EBV-PCR on serum than patients with a negative PCR on pleural fluid. Epstein-Barr virus reactivation in pleural fluid is a frequent event and the absence of an alternative diagnosis to explain the nature of the effusion in the majority of cases suggests an aetiological role for Epstein-Barr virus in the development of pleural effusion.

The present brief report describes four cases with mycobacterial infection and negative T-SPOT TM .TB tests. This test proved to be a useful tool to help rule out the diagnosis of active Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and could therefore prevent unnecessary or inappropriate therapy.

In this study we compared interphase fluorescence in situ tance to rely on accurate tools for molecular analysis. The hybridization (I-FISH) with reverse transcription polymerasepurging efficacy has often been tested on hematopoietic col- we concluded that all CML-derived CFU-GM colonies prob-