Ruth A. Boak

Distribution of glycoproteins in normal human plasma.

Summary Five-ml samples of normal, human plasma have been separated by a low temperature-low salt-ethanol procedure into 4 primary fractions, I + III, II, IV + V, and VI. The concentrations of protein-bound carbohydrate (hexose) and of protein in whole plasma and the 4 primary fractions and the protein-bound carbohydrate content of sero-mucoid were determined. Fraction IV + V, of the primary fractions, contained the greatest amount of protein-bound carbohydrate and of protein. The percentage of protein-bound carbohydrate with respect to protein was highest in Fraction VI.

A Triple-Test Plan for the Serologic Diagnosis of Syphilis — A Modern-Day Approach

EXTENSIVE research in the serology of syphilis during the last decade has resulted in the development of a multiplicity of tests, many of which have had limited practical use. Physicians have scarc...

Sensitivity of the Treponema pallidum immobilization (TPI) test; a function of the number of spirochaetes in the antigen.

A major technical difficulty in the Treponema pallidum immobilization (TPI) test developed by Nelson and Mayer (1949) is the failure of their suspending medium to maintain consistently uniform survival of virulent T. pallidum employed as the antigen. For this reason, early studies to show that the sensitivity of the test may be increased by decreasing the concentration of spirochaetes resulted in failure (Nelson and Diesendruck, 1951). Portnoy, Olansky, and Edmundson (1953), employing a modified basal medium, observed an increase in the sensitivity of the test when the number of spirochaetes ranged from forty to fifteen per high dry dark-field. No alteration in sensitivity occurred, however, when the number of spirochaetes per high dry darkfield varied from fifteen to five. The development of a suitable suspending medium by Boak and Miller (1954) led to further investigation of the problem. Evidence is hereby presented indicating that a proportionate relationship exists between the sensitivity of the TPI test and the number of spirochaetes when the antigen consists of from fifteen organisms to one organism per high dry darkfield.