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“Background: Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) are widely used to diagnose malaria. The present study evaluated a new RDT, the Clearview(R) Malaria pLDH test targeting the pan-Plasmodium antigen lactate dehydrogenase (pLDH).

Methods: The Clearview(R) Malaria pLDH test was evaluated on fresh samples obtained in returned international travellers using microscopy corrected by PCR as the reference

method. Included samples were Plasmodium falciparum (139), Plasmodium vivax (22), Plasmodium ovale (20), Plasmodium malariae (7), and 102 negative.

Results: Overall sensitivity for the detection of Plasmodium spp was 93.2%. For P. falciparum, the sensitivity was 98.6%; for P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae, BAY 73-4506 overall sensitivities were 90.9%, 60.0% and 85.7% respectively. For P. falciparum and for P. vivax, the sensitivities increased to 100% at parasite densities above 100/mu l. The specificity was 100%. The test was easily to perform and the result was stable for at least 1 hour.

Conclusion: The

Clearview(R) Malaria pLDH was efficient for the diagnosis of malaria. The test was very sensitive for P. falciparum and P. vivax detection. The sensitivities BKM120 for P. ovale and P. malariae were better than other RDTs”
“This paper is devoted to the preparation of thermoplastic nanocomposites of polypropylene (PP) and different amounts of single-walled

carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in the range 0.252 wt %. The effect of SWNT content on the dynamic mechanical behavior, thermal degradation, crystalline structure, and the kinetic crystallizability of PP were studied. The results obtained from dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMTA) showed that the maximum storage modulus was achieved when 1 HIF-1 cancer wt % SWNT was added into the pristine polymer. Thermal stability of the nanocomposites was measured by thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). From the TGA results, it was found that the weight fraction of PP which was located at the interface for the nanocomposite containing 0.5% SWNT was about 60%, and this value did not change much with the addition of higher amounts of SWNT. Moreover, the thickness of the interface between PP and SWNT was estimated to be of the order of 101 nm which is very close to the radii of gyration of PP molecular chains. Wide angle X-ray diffractometer (WAXD) was used to explore the crystalline structure of water and slow-cooled samples. It was found that the crystallization of PP in 040 lattice plane increased for the nanocomposites compared with PP for both cooling rates studied. It was also found that the kinetic crystallizability values were nearly the same for PP and the nanocomposites. (C) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.